GLASGOW were certainly far from being sacrificial lambs to the slaughter at Irish rugby's spiritual home, Thomond Park, on Saturday night. The game against the European champions and Magners League leaders, Munster, marked the opening of the splendidly revamped Thomond Park, now a 26,500-capacity ground which does justice to one of world rugby's most famous brands.
Glasgow head coach Sean Lineen paid tribute to his team's efforts after the game: "I was pleased with the way we got stuck in and we could have got something from the game if we had kicked our goals.
"We came here to win and not make up the numbe
rs and we really thought we could win the game tonight. The players are frustrated, but we can look forward now to next week."
Glasgow had presented Munster with a beautifully wrapped seven-point gift for their new home with only three minutes on the clock. A quick line-out throw from full-back Bernardo Stortoni was knocked forward by No8 Johnny Beattie in the in-goal area and veteran Munster scrum-half Peter Stringer was first to pounce on the loose ball, with Ronan O'Gara converting.
Munster almost returned the favour minutes later when their Maori centre Rua Tipoki fumbled the ball inside his own 22, but home full-back Keith Earls fell on the ball to prevent a probable try.
Given the constant heavy drizzle and keen Munster chasers, the Glasgow full-back Stortoni dealt well with a constant barrage of high balls from stand-off O'Gara. He shipped any number of heavy hits from Doug Howlett and the Irish midfield but stood his ground well.
Glasgow had a good deal of possession throughout the evening, mainly due to the back row's outstanding work at the breakdown and, to their credit, the visitors tried to move the ball wide whenever possible.
Indeed, Glasgow should have been ahead at half-time, a fact acknowledged by Munster director of coaching Tony McGahan, who said: "We were lucky enough to get the early try first up and realistically it should have been 9-3 to them at half-time. Glasgow are a very good defensive side, they work very hard and vary their attack well."
Glasgow were right in the game at half-time, only 10-6 behind, and there were three kickable penalties they either missed or kicked to touch for the line-out. A Colin Gregor effort on the stroke of half-time bounced back off the crossbar, but he did slot two penalties in the first half against one by O'Gara.
After the break, Munster added two further tries through centre Barry Murphy and wing Howlett, both touching down after fine handling moves which brought deafening cheers from the big Limerick crowd.
Gregor kicked two more penalties, but failed to capitalise on two further penalty awards. Crucially, Gregor failed to convert replacement wing Hefin O'Hare's late consolation try from wide out on the left touchline, depriving Glasgow of what would have been a well-deserved bonus point.
Scorers: Munster: Tries: Stringer, Murphy, Howlett. Cons: O'Gara 2. Pens: O'Gara 2.
Glasgow: Try: O'Hare. Pens: Gregor 4.
Munster: K Earls; D Howlett, B Murphy, R Tipoki, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan P O'Connell (capt), A Quinlan, D Wallace, J Melck. Subs used: Fogarty, Buckley, O'Driscoll, Ronan, Prendergast, Warwick.
Glasgow: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, M Evans, A Henderson, T Evans; C Gregor, M McMillan; J Va'a, D Hall, M Low, O Palepoi, A Kellock (capt), K Brown, J Beattie, J Barclay. Subs used: O'Hare, Barker, Kalman, Jackson, Morrison, Tkachuk, Swindall.
Referee: Andrew Small (RFU)
Attendance: 19,220.
