An outstanding second-half performance from Munster secured a vital Guinness PRO14 victory over defending champions Scarlets at Thomond Park on Saturday evening.

The hosts trailed 7-5 at the interval with James Hart touching down but it was all Munster in the second half as Man of the Match Robin Copeland and Alex Wootton touched down.

Scarlets started strongly and took an early lead as scrum-half Aled Davies touched down after the visitors sliced through the Munster defence and Rhys Patchell converted to give the visitors a 7-0 lead after seven minutes.

With Munster unable to gain a foothold early on, the province very nearly struck back through Wootton as the winger intercepted and ran almost the length of the field to score under the posts but the try was ruled out for a knock-on.

Having weathered the early storm, Munster worked their way into the game following a difficult opening quarter with a scrum penalty giving Keatley the opportunity to kick Munster into Scarlets’ territory.

The pack were held up over the line after a well-executed rolling maul but James Hart did superbly to touch down off the resulting scrum as the no.9 sniped managed to ground the ball down the blindside despite the efforts of three defenders. Keatley pulled the conversion wide but Munster were off the mark and back in it as the game approached the half-hour.

Munster were glad to see a Rhys Patchell penalty come back off the post minutes later and went into the break trailing 7-5.

A superb start to the second half saw Munster take the lead for the first time as Robin Copeland touched down from close range. The try came off the back of a slick lineout move with Tommy O’Donnell making two vital carries.

Unfortunately, O’Donnell had to depart afterwards with an injury but Keatley’s conversion gave Munster a 12-7 lead.

With the game in the balance and less than 15 minutes remaining, Munster looked to be in for a second try with Niall Scannell making the initial break and offloading to Dave O’Callaghan.

The flanker did superbly to carry and then get another magnificent offload to Hart. The scrum-half brought play to within five metres of the Scarlets line and when Munster went through a number of phases, James Cronin went over for the score. Or not, as the TMO ruled the score out for a double-movement as Keatley lined up his conversion.

A penalty was awarded to the Scarlets for the infringement and they cleared with the home crowd baffled.

Despite that setback, Munster still led 12-7 and the players regained their composure to secure the win late on as Stephen Fitzgerald swung a big pass to the left touchline and Wootton touched down with the TMO, fittingly, awarding the score.

Guinness PRO14 Round 18 Round-Up

Tommy O’Donnell was replaced due to an injury after 48 minutes and went to the hospital at full-time.

Rory Scannell was replaced after 63 minutes for a HIA.

Robin Copeland was awarded Man of the Match.

Academy scrum-half Jack Stafford made his second PRO14 appearance as a late replacement.

Munster are now six points clear of third-placed Cheetahs with three games remaining.

Munster: JJ Hanrahan; Calvin Nash (Stephen Fitzgerald, 73), Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell (Dan Goggin, 63), Alex Wootton; Ian Keatley, James Hart (Jack Stafford, 78); Dave Kilcoyne (James Cronin, 53), Rhys Marshall (Niall Scannell, 53) John Ryan (Stephen Archer, 48); Jean Kleyn (Gerbrandt Grobler, 67), Billy Holland (C); Jack O’Donoghue, Tommy O’Donnell (Dave O’Callaghan, 48), Robin Copeland.