Munster 19 Scarlets 13

A second-half try from James Coughlan proved decisive as Munster battled to a 19-13 victory over Scarlets at Thomond Park.

Ronan O'Gara opened the scoring for Munster in the fifth minute with a penalty, after Scarlets' Jon Edwards was penalised for not releasing. Stephen Jones levelled the scores within ten minutes when Munster infringed at the scrum deep in their own territory. It would remain all square until five minutes before half-time, although Jonathan Davies was proving a real threat for the visitors. O'Gara's penalty on 35 minutes following an infringement at the scrum by Scarlets put Munster 6-3 up at the interval, with Jones missing the chance to boot the Welsh side level before half-time. Minutes after the restart O'Gara's third penalty attempt of the afternoon missed, but he quickly got another opportunity from a similar position, and was this time on target to make it 9-3 to Munster. Then, on 52 minutes, the hosts struck a hammer blow after Edwards had been sin-binned for Scarlets. Following a Munster line-out the ball was charged forward, with James Coughlan eventually blasting his way over from short range for a try. O'Gara added the conversion to make it 16-3. Rhys Priestland was on target with the boot for Scarlets to reduce the deficit and, although O'Gara restored the 13 point advantage shortly after with another penalty, Ken Owens' try following a swift move from the scrum made it 19-13. But there was to be no further score from Scarlets, with Munster holding on to record a fourth Heineken Cup win.