GLASGOW rounded off their season in style with a fifth consecutive win to record their highest ever Magners League placing. They were made to work hard throughout for this win in Cork and defended resolutely into the eighth minute of time added on in the second half.
Glasgow gladly assumed the role of party poopers on a balmy evening in south west Ireland. The game marked Anthony Foley's last home appearance for the European Cup finalists and he received a huge reception when he took the field for the 201st time.
It was also the last home game under head coach Declan Kidney who takes over the Ireland job next season.
Glasgow head coach Sean Lineen was overjoyed after the match, saying: "That was absolutely fantastic, I am really pleased for the boys, and I knew we could do it. Munster had a strong team out and they wanted to win badly."
The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges with back rowers John Barclay and Johnnie Beattie particularly prominent, snaffling and carrying ball into the Munster half. On 17 minutes Barclay turned over Alan Quinlan, starting a move that ended with winger Lome Fa'atau running home a try. Dan Parks converted.
Glasgow doubled their lead minutes later when a speculative kick rolled into touch outside the Munster 22. Munster left wing Ian Dowling attempted the quick throw to Anthony Foley. Dougie Hall was alert to this, intercepted the throw in front of Foley and sprinted in for the try. Parks landed the kick.
Munster now sparked to life and launched a series of attacks from which Glasgow conceded penalties. The second of these yielded a try. Munster opted for the kick to the corner and from the catch and drive the ball was slung left by Peter Stringer to Foley. The touch judge had somehow encroached onto the field of play and Foley actually ran behind him to dive in at the corner for the score. O'Gara converted and added two further penalties before half-time.
Glasgow increased their lead through Thom Evans with just over 10 minutes to go. The winger chipped past full-back Denis Hurley and just grounded the ball in the left hand corner. Parks slotted the difficult conversion. Paul O'Connell scored to narrow the gap to three points, but Glasgow held out.
Scorers: Glasgow : Tries: Fa'tau, Hall, T Evans. Cons: Parks 3. Munster : Tries: Foley, O'Connell Cons O'Gara. Pens: O'Gara 2
Munster: D Hurley; A Horgan, L Mafi, R Tipoki, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; F Pucciariello, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M O'Driscoll, P O'Connell, D Ryan, A Foley (capt), A Quinlan. Subs Used : Earls, Wallace, Horan, Buckley, O'Callaghan, Leamy, Warwick.
Glasgow: B Stortoni; L Fa'atau, M Evans, A Henderson, T Evans; D Parks (capt), C Gregor; J Va'a, D Hall, M Low, O Palepoi, D Turner, K Brown, J Beattie, J Barclay. Subs Used: Tkachuk, Morrison, Thomson, Barrow, Eddie, Newman, Pinder
Referee: J Jones (Wales)
Attendance: 6,000
The full article contains 509 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
