Guinness PRO12: Munster beat Ulster to go top of the table
Last Updated: 30/11/14 7:50pm
Munster climbed to the top of the Guinness PRO12 table after defeating rivals Ulster 21-20 at Thomond Park.
Ian Humphreys missed a last-minute conversion which would have given Ulster the win, the hosts holding on after being reduced to 14 men in the last 10 minutes.
Robin Copeland and Duncan Williams both scored tries to give the hosts a nine-point lead, but Ulster rallied with a penalty and a try after Stephen Archer was sent to the sin bin, managing to grab a losing bonus point but falling short of a comeback win.
Munster’s win saw them move above both Ulster and the Ospreys to reach the summit, although the latter side have the chance to take top spot back when they play Leinster on Saturday.
The visitors took the lead in the opening stages, a Stuart McCloskey surge leading to Humphreys' opening penalty in the second minute.
After an Ian Keatley miss, Ulster extended their lead to 9-0 as Humphreys punished two moments of indiscipline from Munster back-row forwards CJ Stander and Paddy Butler.
Humphreys then made it 12-0 before Keatley broke Munster's duck in the 23rd minute, punishing Craig Gilroy for a high tackle on Gerhard van der Heever.
Tries
A clash of heads prompted home debutant Pat Howard's withdrawal, but Munster finally clicked into gear when Ronan O'Mahony raided through midfield and Denis Hurley's pass out of the tackle released Copeland to score, making it 12-8 at half-time.
Munster continued to press after the restart and they got a lucky break three minutes in when Copeland fumbled at the back of a scrum in the Ulster 22 - the alert Duncan Williams rescuing the situation to break to the left, hand off Paul Marshall and crash over in the corner.
TMO Kevin Beggs confirmed the grounding and Keatley's classy touchline conversion put Munster 15-12 ahead.
Neil Doak's charges then coughed up some cheap penalties, with Keatley gladly turning them into six more points for Munster by the hour mark.
The visitors hung in there and were rewarded with a fifth Humphreys penalty following replacement prop Archer's yellow card for taking out a support player at a lineout.
That set up a frantic finish and although Nick Williams forced his way over after a couple of near misses from lineout mauls, Humphreys' missed kick allowed Munster to take the spoils.
