Nothing stimulates Munster more than Europe. They arrived at Exeter, whose only defeat in their previous 17 matches had been in the Premiership final against Saracens last May, without an away victory this season but even without a clutch of leading players – Keith Earls pulled out after being injured during the warm-up – they had enough knowhow to thwart opponents who for all their domestic success are still feeling their way in the Champions Cup.
Munster gave Exeter the first use of the almost gale-force wind but so dominated territory in the opening period that the Chiefs’ 10-3 interval lead was oddly anomalous. The Irish province have spent the past two decades rising above the average of their domestic game and a team that was last month humbled by Cardiff Blues, hardly one of the European powerhouses, took on a team that has tended to trade in bonus point victories this season and shook them vigorously.
Exeter are used to getting their own way, but they were plundered at the breakdown, Peter O’Mahony and Tadhg Beirne contesting for the ball on the ground for longer than players get away with in the Premiership, and in the opening period kept behind the gainline through line speed and powerful tackling exemplified by CJ Stander’s early one on Dave Dennis that could be heard above the roar of the wind.
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It was to Exeter’s credit that after being able to use the wind to their advantage they led at the interval by plundering a try two minutes before the break. The score was 3-3, Gareth Steenson and Joey Carbery exchanging penalties, when the Chiefs were awarded a penalty. They would usually have kicked the ball to touch and driven a maul from a lineout, but the strength of the wind made throwing-in hazardous on an afternoon when no one dared to float a pass.
They opted for a scrum. Munster went into the match with, statistically, the best set-piece in the Pro14: whether that says more about statistics or the strength of the league is debatable, but Exeter’s prop Harry Williams, a World Cup contender with Dan Cole out of favour, out-manoeuvred Dave Kilcoyne and won another penalty. It turned into a second scrum and from that Exeter launched a series of attacks that got them close enough to the line for Luke Cowan-Dickie to touch down.
Steenson added the conversion, but so focused was he on the kick that he did not notice Andrew Conway attempting a chargedown, which the wing was an extra set of fingertips away from executing. The crowd hollered after he thundered into Steenson, but the referee ruled that the contact was unavoidable rather than late. Not every impact has to be followed by a red card.
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Munster now had the wind to use but, like Exeter, they found position hard to maintain. The Chiefs’ problem was holding on to the ball, but Munster became too excitable as they scented the tryline and their discipline melted. They thought they had scored after 51 minutes when they kicked a penalty to touch and in the manner of Exeter drove a maul to the line for the flanker Chris Cloete to emerge with the ball.
Jérôme Garcès penalised Munster for obstruction, much to the disbelief of O’Mahony, their battle-scarred captain who led by example, but they did not have to wait for long. It was an afternoon when defences were on top, but not suffocatingly so. Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Phil Dollman, Carbery and Duncan Williams made clean breaks, but the final pass was not misplaced, a try-saving tackle was made, such as the one by Williams on Dollman.
A minute later, Munster scored their try, Stander going over the line after Rhys Marshall and Tommy O’Donnell had been held up. Carbery converted from in front of the posts and if a penalty was potentially enough to win it for Munster, Exeter needed to get upfield and score a try.
With 30 seconds to go, Exeter lost a lineout inside Munster’s half. Carbery needed to clear the ball to safety for his side to gain an early advantage in the pool, but his kick went dead and Exeter had a scrum on Munster’s 22. It was the start of a typically patient, 22-phase ball, but just in front of the line Jack Yeandle knocked on.
“I do not know if it is two points gained or lost,” said the Chiefs’ head coach, Rob Baxter, “but the second period was as good a half as we have played in this tournament.”