Munster fell to a narrow loss in Toulouse on Sunday afternoon but have secured qualification to the Champions Cup round of 16 after securing two wins and two losing bonus-points in four Pool games.
Munster will face the Cell C Sharks in the round of 16 on the weekend of March 31/April 1/2 with details to be confirmed in due course.
John Hodnett scored Munster’s only try of the opening half as we recovered from a dominant Toulouse start to go in trailing 11-8 at half-time.
An incredible team try was finished by Tadhg Beirne to give Munster the lead but the trusty boot of Melvin Jaminet steered Toulouse to victory.
Toulouse made a dominant start and Jaminet kicked an early penalty after Peter O’Mahony was pinged at the breakdown as Toulouse were the better side at the breakdown in the opening half hour.
Munster were up against it when Juan Cruz Mallia scored in the left corner off Pita Ahki’s wide pass after seven minutes with Jaminet off target with the conversion.
A Munster offside gave Jaminet another opportunity off the tee and his second penalty made it 11-0 after 15 minutes with things looking ominous.
Munster had their best moment just past the 20-minute mark when Calvin Nash caught a Craig Casey box kick at the second attempt and offloaded with Niall Scannell carrying into their 22 but Marchard got in over the ball to win the penalty.
Mike Haley sustained an ankle injury on 26 minutes and was replaced by Malakai Fekitoa with Jack Crowley moving to full-back as Fekitoa took his place at inside centre.
After weathering the early storm, Munster started to show their quality and got back into the game on 30 minutes with John Hodnett scoring from close range after a series of drives. Carbery pulled the conversion wide from a tricky angle but Munster were back in it at 11-5.
Munster won a huge scrum penalty after Tadhg Beirne dropped the restart and when Toulouse were pinged at the breakdown, Carbery kicked his first penalty to make it 11-8.
Toulouse looked to reassert their early dominance before the break and kicked to the corner but the Munster pack defended the maul superbly to survive until half-time.
Toulouse continued to win vital breakdown penalties with Marchand again in the right place to get in over the ball as Munster attacked early in the second half.
Tadhg Beirne scored the second Munster try on 49 minutes as the province took the lead for the first time thanks to a brilliant team move. Fekitoa, Gavin Coombes, Shane Daly and Craig Casey all offloaded in a flowing move down the left wing. The ball was recycled quickly for Carbery to find John Hodnett with a perfect crossfield kick and he passed inside for Calvin Nash to superbly weave through the Toulouse defence and offload for Beirne to touch down under pressure from a number of defenders.
It was an incredible score and Munster led 13-11 despite the missed conversion.
Jaminet kicked his third penalty after a Roman Ntamack 50-22 got Toulouse into position with the game ebbing and flowing as Toulouse moved back in front at 14-13.
Munster were inches away from their third try just short of the hour mark through Gavin Coombes and eventually won a penalty with replacement Ben Healy kicking his first points to make it 16-14.
Munster were penalised for obstruction after winning their own lineout and setting up a maul with Jaminet’s fourth penalty making it 17-16 with 13 minutes to go.
Healy was sin-binned on 68 minutes for leading with a forearm as he carried on the left hand side of the pitch.
Down to 14 men, Munster continued to battle but the boot of Jaminet had the final say as he kicked his fifth penalty to clinch a four-point victory for Toulouse despite a fine Munster performance.
Champions Cup Round 4 Round-Up
Mike Haley sustained an ankle injury and will be assessed by the medical department.
Malakai Fekitoa made his first Champions Cup appearance for Munster.
Munster: Mike Haley (inj, Malakai Fekitoa, 26); Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Jack Crowley, Shane Daly; Joey Carbery (Ben Healy, 57), Craig Casey (Conor Murray, 61); Dave Kilcoyne (Josh Wycherley, 61), Niall Scannell (Diarmuid Barron, 61), John Ryan (Roman Salanoa, 61); Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (C), John Hodnett (Alex Kendellen, 64), Gavin Coombes.
