Munster beat Connacht despite Alex Nankivell’s red card
Kenneth Fox
Jack Crowley scored 15 points as Munster overcame Connacht 30-24 at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park despite Alex Nankivell’s red card.
Munster led 18-5 midway through the Castlebar clash, with Tom Ahern and Craig Casey, back from knee surgery, both touching down.
Centre Nankivell was sent off in the 25th minute for a dangerous clearout on Connacht captain Cian Prendergast, who had to be stretchered off.
Caolin Blade opened the second half’s scoring, adding to an earlier effort from Sean Jansen, who finished with two tries for the westerners.
Josh Ioane ultimately made it four tries each – Connacht replacement Dylan Tierney-Martin had a fifth disallowed late on – but Crowley and Diarmuid Barron had both crossed before that as Munster claimed five important BKT United Rugby Championship points.
This was the first professional Connacht fixture to be played in Mayo, let alone the home of Mayo GAA, and it drew a record Connacht attendance of 27,580.
Player-of-the-match Crowley landed a sixth-minute penalty before setting up second row Ahern to crash over in the left corner.
Jansen powered over from a smart Finlay Bealham pass, closing the gap to 8-5, before Calvin Nash impressively beat three defenders to send Casey over, and Crowley slotted over the conversion.
Barely three minutes later, Nankivell made direct contact with Prendergast’s head at a ruck, leaving Munster down to 14 men and the hosts without their skipper.
Bundee Aki and Finn Treacy combined to put Blade over for a converted 44th-minute try, cancelling out Crowley’s second three-pointer.
Munster continued to have the answers, Crowley scoring from Casey’s brilliant pass, and his extras made it 25-12.
Barron burrowed over before Jansen struck on the hour mark, capitalising on Tadhg Beirne’s sin-binning.
A fast-finishing Connacht had their chances, yet the post meant replacement JJ Hanrahan missed the conversion of Ioane’s try, and an Aki infringement at a prior ruck ruled out Tierney-Martin’s score.
With Conor Murray on for his 200th appearance and Jean Kleyn stealing a crucial lineout, Munster hung on even though Billy Scannell’s late yellow left them with 13 players.