Munster 22-20 Glasgow: Warriors suffer ref justice

Pity poor Glasgow, for the Warriors had their pockets picked in spectacular style last night.

Despite playing with verve, commitment and a commendable obduracy on Johnnie Beattie's return to competitive action, a pair of controversial second-half decisions from Welsh referee James Jones were the difference between victory and defeat in Cork.

The first came when David Wallace was pushed over the line and awarded a try for the league leaders despite being buried under a pile of bodies with the ball hidden from view. The second was when, with less than five minutes remaining, full back Bernardo Stortoni was wrongly sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on while trying to tackle Keith Earls, a decision which gave O'Gara a chance to kick Munster into a two-point lead which they were never to surrender.

It was a cruel ending for a Glasgow side which had led at half-time and which showed incredible character to drag itself back to 20-19 with just five minutes remaining. Ultimately, however, they were let down by a five-minute spell just after half-time when they surrendered a hard-gained 10-3 lead by leaking three penalties to 14-man Munster.

The match had only really kicked into life on the hour mark when Wallace was driven over for a try which should simply never have been awarded.

Coming after the three penalties, it put Munster nine points ahead and seemed to mark the end of the game as a contest. Yet, within three minutes, Glasgow were back in contention when a series of probing runs from Ruaridh Jackson ended with DTH Van de Merwe going over in the corner for a spectacular team try that brought Glasgow within two points.

When Jackson added a drop-goal just minutes later after an irresistible drive by a Glasgow pack which performed heroics throughout, Glasgow were in the lead and looked set to claim a famous victory.

Munster haven't become the pre-eminent Magners League side for nothing though, and during a frenzied final assault, Stortoni was penalised by Jones and the flawless O'Gara kicked his sixth successful penalty from the sidelines to give Munster the points.

Munster had ended as brightly as they had started, with the Irishmen almost scoring with a length-of-the-pitch breakout from their own 22 in the first minute.

It had been Glasgow who claimed first blood when an O'Gara clearing kick was charged down and John Hayes strayed offside at the resulting ruck, Jackson kicking the penalty.

The first sign of Jones's strange decision-making came less than ten minutes into the game when Richie Gray was sin-binned after a try-saving tackle on Munster wing Johne Murphy despite the big second row trying to wriggle away from the breakdown. He rightly looked surprised when shown the yellow card.Although O'Gara kicked the resulting penalty, scores were still even when the youngster took the field ten minutes later. There were, however, more than a few signs of frailty from Glasgow, with their tackling in midfield particularly weak. Lefeimi Mafi and Keith Earls in particular needed no second invitation and on several occasions the combative Tongan carved huge holes in the Warriors' defences.

Chances were few and far between though and, when Jackson missed a penalty after a high tackle, Munster reverted to Plan A and ended the first half rumbling through their forwards. Yet they got no change out of the visiting pack, and where the tackling of Glasgow's backs lacked conviction, the forwards were outstanding, especially during the period when Munster were camped on their line and stringing together phase after phase. Rob Harley did much to bolster his rapidly growing reputation.

It was from turnover ball that Glasgow scored the try which saw them go into half-time in the lead. Max Evans was the architect, picking the ball up in midfield and bumping off two forwards and evading two backs before flipping the ball to Colin Gregor to go over under the posts, with Jackson adding the extra points.

Munster's frustration was palpable and, raising the intensity, they went straight back down the other end of the pitch and launched a frenzied assault on Glasgow's line. But instead of redressing the deficit, when Earls went through a ruck and took out fullback Bernardo Stortoni, he was penalised and sin-binned. Like Gray, he will feel aggrieved.

Down a man, Munster played it tight after the break and immediately began to erode the deficit when Beattie was penalised for not moving away at the ruck, O'Gara kicking a penalty from the ten-metre line to cut Glasgow's lead to four points. He knocked over another penalty two minutes later to put Munster within a point, and within another couple of minutes he put them in front when John Barclay was penalised for not moving away from the tackle.

Within five minutes, 14-man Munster had turned the screw and completely turned the game with three penalties.

Yet it was referee Jones to was to have the final say with two decisions which effectively settled the outcome of a contest Glasgow could and, arguably should, have won.

Scorers: Munster: Tries: Wallace. Con: O'Gara. Pens: O'Gara 5. Glasgow: Tries: Gregor, Van Der Merwe. Convs: Jackson, Gregor. Pen: Jackson. Drop-goal: Jackson.

Munster: P Warwick; D Hurley, K Earls, L Mafi, J Murphy; R O'Gara, P Stringer (T O'Leary, 58); D Hurley, D Varley, J Hayes (P Borlase, 43), D O'Callghan, M O'Driscoll, D Wallace, D Leamy.

Glasgow: B Stortoni; A Dunbar (D McCall, 55), M Evans, P Murchie (P Horne, 50), DTH Van Der Merwe; R Jackson, C Gregor; R Grant (J Welsh, 51), D Hall (P McArthur, 59), M Low (K Tchachuk, 66), R Gray, A Kellock (capt), R Harley, J Barclay, J Beattie (R Wilson, 6).

Referee: J Jones. Att:8,000