Munster pays harsh penalty while Toulouse shows why they are European champions

The icing on the cake was extra time and the penalty shoot-out – the tries scored were the first criteria to decide the result after extra time and there too the teams were evenly matched. Sure, why not? Nobody in the crowd of 40,476 went anywhere.

Chances were none of them had ever witnessed firsthand a game decided by accuracy from the tee about two hours after it all began. True, it’s artificial and cruel, but it serves its purpose and is fair to all involved.

For the first time in a gripping competition, the atmosphere changed to a downright odd one when the penalty shoot-out was called off prematurely, with Munster unassailable two-five and Toulouse four-four. The winners looked too exhausted to celebrate, and to their credit, consoling the losers rather than cheering their own success. Given what they’ve been through here, they’re already behind for next weekend’s semi-finals.

Munster will use the free time but was keen to be back on duty. It was particularly tough for Ben Healy, who missed his two shots, and Conor Murray, who missed his second. They did very little wrong all afternoon.

If things had gone a little differently, Healy would have been the hero, because when the clock ticked 80 minutes and referee Luke Pearce broke Toulouse’s momentum with a penalty against Munster, he was immediately thought of – and his big boot.

He had come on for Mike Haley just eight minutes earlier, a timely replacement and from just over 60 yards he was very close to the end of the game.

Instead, we went into these two bizarre 10-minute periods in which two exhausted teams were offered a new game of chess. When you were fresh as a daisy like Healy, your worth skyrocketed – perfectly illustrated by Thomas Ahern’s immediate impact.

Nothing says caution in rugby like overtime. No one has an interest in playing rugby, but a keen interest in not making mistakes and staying away from your own racquets as much as possible. In times like these, bad decisions are made. Here it was one.

With a few minutes left, Toulouse had really picked up steam – the only sequence for either side in extra time – but just as they were making progress into the Munster 22 they pulled it back to Thomas Ramos, who failed in his attempt at a drop goal.

To level it, Munster did the same on the other end with time almost up. Instead of going through a few stages and getting a penalty or better opening for a drop goal, they went straight to the drop goal option, which Healy just missed. He’ll have a lot on his mind now.

There won’t be much joy in the red zone Munster played very well and their key men got up. Peter O’Mahony was a huge influence with four big steals – three of them in his own 22 with Toulouse at the helm. Murray also showed a good game, as did Simon Zebo.

They also seemed to have managed it the hard way. When Matthis Lebel blasted the ball into an ocean sea in the 27th minute with a brilliant final pass from Ramos who complemented the extras, the French went 14-7 ahead. It felt like a defining moment. What followed only emphasized how the game was going: away from the home team.

Sometimes when you go for a series of glitches or errors, this serves to reinforce the message that this is not going to be your day.

Significantly, it started with Mike Haley, in the shape of his life, spilling a ball that should have been taped to the palm of his hand.

The launch pad for a change was perfect, with a solid scrum and accurate-looking hitting play until the full-back got it down.

Carbery followed, tapping a ball that presented itself from behind an alley and then, to put the tin hat on it, the superb Damian de Allende meddled from behind the Toulouse defense – a must for Munster in the wide channels – only to see it hovering over the sidelines. Quite a hat trick.

And yet they had the composure to work their way back into the game with an attempt from Keith Earls, who was met from the touchline by Carbery.

Whatever was going on in the scrum, Munster refused to let it seep into the rest of their game.

But they couldn’t fix those problems in the scrum and Toulouse kept using it to ram the point home.

After going 14-14 at the break, Munster took control of the third quarter and started with a try from Haley just two minutes after Carbery missed a penalty.

That was the high point. When Rory Arnold rolled over five minutes later and threw Zebo onto the lawn, there wasn’t a man, woman or child in red who didn’t want Pearce to pull a card from his back pocket that perfectly matched their shirts.

They had to settle for yellow cards and while the second row was knocked out Munster kept the pressure up with a Carbery penalty just before the hour mark for a 24-14 lead.

But Toulouse is not the king of this competition for nothing. A second attempt from Label changed the picture and a Ramos penalty sent the game into overtime.

Goalscorers – Munster: A Kendellen, K Earls, M Haley each try; J Carbery pin, con 3; Toulouse: R Ntamack try, M Lebel 2 tries; T Ramos pen, 3 cons.

Shootout – Toulouse: 4/4 (A Dupont 2, T Ramos, R Ntamack 1 each). Munster: 2/5 (C Murray, J Carbery 1 each).

Munster: M. Haley (B. Healy 72); K Earls, C Farrell, D de Allende, S Zebo (C Murray 97); J Carbery, C Murray (C Casey 60); J Wycherley (J Loughman 55), N Scannell (D Barron 55), S Archer (J Ryan 51), J Kleyn (J Jenkins 60), F Wycherley (T Ahern 72), P. O’Mahony (Captain) (J. Daly 65), J O’Donoghue, A Kendellen.

Toulouse: T Ramos; D Delibes (M Medard 44; P Foutssac 72), P Fouyssac (B Germain 64), P Ahki, M Lebel; R Ntamack, A Dupont; R Neti (C Baille 47), J Marchand (Capt), (P Mauvaka 47) D Aldegheri (D Ainu’u 51), R Arnold (yc 51-61), E Meafou, R Elstadt (A Jelonch 47), F Cros, T Flament.

Referee: L Pearce (England)