Cornish Pirates 9 Munster A 10
A try in the fourth minute of injury time from Munster wing Ronan O'Mahoney shattered the Cornish Pirates as the British & Irish Cup holders snatched a dramatic late win at the Mennaye Field, writes Dick Straughan.
In a fiercely competitive game played in a swirling wind and icy temperatures the Pirates dug deep during a second half in which they were forced to defend for long periods of play.
But the power and pressure of the Munster pack was relentless and after wasting several good opportunities to score they finally pounced right at the death.
The Pirates had started brightly and their aggression at the scrum in particular had Munster on the back foot.
Fly-half Aaron Penberthy opened the scoring with a 40 metre penalty after 12 minutes and quick thinking by Matt Evans almost brought them the opening try at the end of the first quarter.
The Canada international took a quick tap penalty and raced 20 metres for the corner only to be forced into touch by Munster full-back Sean Scanlon as he stretched to score.
Munster were ahead soon after as flanker Dave O'Callaghan ran a fine line of attack up to the Pirates 22 before slipping a scoring pass to centre Danny Barnes.
JJ Hanrahan missed the conversion but back came the Pirates and Penberthy stroked home another long range penalty after a deliberate knock-on by CJ Stander.
The Pirates fly-half then added his third penalty, again from long range, just before the interval and the home side led 9-5.
Munster, however, were a different proposition in the second half and problems with the lineout coupled with injuries to Grant Pointer and Penberthy turned the tide of the game.
Pirates hooker Rob Elloway was sin-binned after 44 minutes for a ruck offence and Hanrahan missed a penalty from half-way on the hour.
But the Pirates defence held firm and Evans almost increased the Pirates lead with a rare attack only to again be thwarted just short of the line by a huge defensive tackle.
Hanrahan spurned a four-on-one overlap as Munster turned the screw and replacement Barry O'Mahoney thought he had scored on 79 minutes only to be called back for a forward pass.
Then with Pirates lock Gary Johnson sin-binned for killing the ball, Munster came again and this time it proved decisive as Ronan O'Mahoney found a gap and scampered home to score.
Cornish Pirates: Davies, Pointer (Kessell 69), Riley, Fatialofa (Hill h/t), Evans, Penberthy (Bedford 60), Cattle (capt); Andrew, Elloway (sin-bin 44-54, Tanner 80+4), Joyce (Storer 60), Barry, Johnson (sin-bin 77), Marriott (Tanner 51-56), Burgess, McGlone.
Replacements (not used): Tyas, Cheesman.
Pens: Penberthy (3).
Yellow cards: Johnson, Elloway.
Munster A: Scanlon (Bohane 68), Hircock, Barnes, Deasy (Holland 60), R O'Mahoney, Hanrahan, Williams (Hurley 65); Cronin, Henry (capt) (Casey 68), Ryan (Cotter 79), Foley, Nagle (Hayes 76), O'Callaghan, Ronan (B O'Mahoney 65), Stander.
Tries: Barnes, R O'Mahoney.
Referee: I Davies (WRU).