Exeter pull off remarkable turnaround in Champions Cup victory over Munster

The bounce of a rugby ball can change everything thing as Munster found to their cost in Devon. One minute the Irish province were looking in total control of a Champions Cup fixture they badly needed to win, the next they were heading home completely deflated from a game turned on its head by an extraordinary late surge from a re-energised young Chiefs team now riding high in Pool Three.

At 24-13 to a dominant Munster entering the final quarter there had seemed only one possible outcome, at which point Exeter’s bench completely ripped up the script. First the back-row forward Ross Vintcent stretched over for a close-range try to reignite the contest and then, less than three minutes later, the replacement scrum-half Stu Townsend lobbed a box kick into some space on the edge of the Munster 22.

Calvin Nash, scorer of his side’s first try earlier in the day, fatally allowed it to bounce and the former Leinster forward Jack Dunne loomed into view to collect it. To Munster’s horror the lanky lock rumbled all the way to the try-line and Exeter, for the first time in a game that had previously not gone according to plan, were ahead. An interception score from Henry Slade in the 79^th minute compounded Irish pain with his side’s fourth try to earned the Chiefs a further pre-Christmas bonus.

Munster, who had failed to win on their previous two visits to Devon, will be gutted, having only managed to draw at home to Bayonne on the opening weekend. Initially more effective at the breakdown and livelier behind the scrum, their only mistake was to assume the job was done against opponents who had snatched a similarly dramatic victory in Toulon in round one.

It made for a see-sawing, gripping contest, with Exeter having initially looked anything but likely winners. Munster clearly felt there was space to be found on the edges of their hosts rush defence and scored three times in the same right-hand corner in the first half. Their opening score saw Craig Casey throw a huge pass out to the unmarked Nash before a neat cross-kick from Jack Crowley sent the athletic blindside flanker Tom Ahern charging over from almost 50 metres at a seriously impressive gallop.

Things improved even more for the visitors when more deft midfield work cleared the way for Antoine Frisch, once of Bristol, to burst down the same right touchline. Exeter did manage one first-half try, when Dan Frost rewarded a decent period of home pressure with a close-range score, but were being opened up too often for comfort by a Munster side enjoying the majority of territory and possession.

It was hard fought, though, as it was always destined to be. There is more that unites these two teams than divides them – regional pride, rural passion, no-nonsense attitudes – and a physical edge was guaranteed on a largely grey, still afternoon. Munster were also indebted to the long arms and strength of their international lock Tadhg Beirne who came up with a crucial turnover on his side’s line after an over-enthusiastic Tom Cairns had opted for a quick tap penalty.

Exeter, though had been behind beside the Mediterranean a week earlier and still came through. They just needed a touch more composure to complement their defensive line speed, their ambition not always matched by their execution of the nuts and bolts. It had been a similar theme even before kick-off when the match ball was delivered from the top of the stand via a zip wire, only for the club mascot Big Chief to drop it when it was lobbed to him on the pitch.

The big question, though, was whether Munster could cling on out where it mattered. The answer seemed obvious when more smart play from Frisch down the middle eventually stretched the cover sufficiently to put full-back Shane Daly over, again down Chiefs’s left side.

The real drama, though, was only just beginning. Rob Baxter’s decision to make mass changes bore spectacular fruit and Munster were suddenly confronted with a very different beast. First Vintcent and then the opportunistic Dunne combined to transform the equation before Slade, again excellent off the tee, swooped to apply the late coup de grace.