This may be a new competition, but it is very much the same old Munster, except for Ronan O’Gara read Ian Keatley, the 27-year-old fly-half giving the former champions a one-point win with a drop goal long after time had elapsed, having been 16 points behind at half-time.
For Sale, who have been casting themselves as the whipping boys of Pool 1 ever since they were landed with three of last season’s Heineken Cup semi-finalists, it was a cruel end to a brave afternoon. With Clermont Auvergne to visit next week and two games against Saracens before Christmas, it will take a lot of getting over.
“It’s a brutal way to go down,” their captain, David Seymour, said after watching Keatley’s kick curl in the wind to cap the kind of fightback which characterised the glory days of Munster in 2006 and 2008. This is not a team of that quality, but after beating Leinster in front of 40,000 in Dublin last weekend, Anthony Foley’s side must feel they are getting there.
After the dull performance at Northampton a week ago, Sale were unrecognisable from the off. The two Sharks with ambitions for a place in the England squad to be announced on Wednesday, Michael Paterson and Danny Cipriani, combined for the first score. The New Zealand-born lock pounded a hole and Cipriani’s exquisite pass to Johnny Leota won a scrum, which turned into a penalty. The fly-half converted for the first of his 16 points.
Not that the lead lasted long. Three minutes later Munster laid their credentials on the table, rejecting a kickable penalty for trademark grind and a try for a prop – Dave Kilcoyne. Keatley converted, but instead of taking a back step, Sale bounced back. A couple more penalties from Cipriani preceded Sale putting down a marker of their own, choosing to drive from a lineout rather than kick the three points.
Paterson and David Seymour each got to within a metre before Magnus Lund finally got the job done. After a couple of muscular forward tries, Johnny Leota then got one for the backs. Sale rode a wave of penalties from the referee Laurent Cardona, who replaced the injured Mathieu Raynal, to launch the centre down the left for a 30th-minute try.
Then Cipriani, having one of those days when even his defence looked accomplished, stepped through the Munster midfield before setting Sam Tuitupou away. Wing Tom Arscott was pulled back when he looked well placed to score. Nonetheless, Sale went to the interval leading 23-7 and could have wrapped the game up had Leota not overlooked a two-man overlap two minutes into the second half.
“I’m not going to crib about that,” said a calm Steve Diamond, unrecognisable from the director of rugby who refused to speak after the Northampton defeat.
However, Munster seized the reprieve and marched downfield. Sale looked to have countered the driven lineout and even a tap penalty under the posts, but when the ball went wide Andrew Conway got over and Keatley converted for 23-14.
Within seconds Munster were knocking on the door again. Scrum-half Conor Murray thought he had squeezed passed Seymour for Chris Cusiter to get home in the left corner. The television match official said otherwise but the Ireland scrum-half had better luck four minutes later. Keatley finally settled matters with a dramatic drop goal from all of 30 metres with the final kick of the game.
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