HIGHLIGHTS | Munster fall just short of Toulouse in Champions Cup Epic

Munster will now face the Cell C Sharks in the round of 16 on the weekend of March 31/April 1/2 in South Africa.

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.

John Hodnett scored Munster’s only try of the opening half as they 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.

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.

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 Calvin Nash with a perfect crossfield kick and the winger did superbly to weave through the Toulouse defence and offload for Beirne to touch down under pressure from a number of defenders.

The conversion was off target but Munster led 13-11.

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.

Down to 14 men, Munster continued to battle but the boot of Jaminet had the final say as he kicked two more penalties in the final 10 minutes to clinch the victory for Toulouse despite a fine Munster performance.

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