French Giants No Match For Runaway Red Army

MUNSTER marched into their 12th European Cup semi-final and if their victory wasn’t quite as emphatic as the score line might suggest, they still look well capable of winning this year’s tournament.

- Brendan Gallagher

Depending on today’s results they will either play Saracens at the Aviva or Glasgow at Murrayfield. On current form they will fear neither.

Two very late tries at Thomond yesterday put a slightly artificial gloss on their performance but in truth Munster, despite the late withdrawal off Conor Murray and the departure to injury in the second half of Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander, controlled the game from start to finish.

It seemed all Munster in the first half yet somehow they turned around only 13-9 ahead which might have concerned a less confident team.

The game started explosively with a yellow card in the first minute when big Toulouse No.8 Francois Cros left Duncan Williams, a late replacement for Murray, sprawling with an elbow-first challenge into the sternum after the scrum-half had completed a clearance kick.

It was a needless challenge and Munster made Toulouse pay dearly by scoring ten points while they were shorthanded.

First prop John Ryan burst through from close range after good pressure for Tyler Bleyendaal to add an easy conversion and then a few moments later the Kiwi fly-half was on target with a short range penalty to extend the lead.