Sweeney'S Strikes Steals Warriors' Win

Celtic Warriors 29 - 25 Munster Sardis Road   Att: 4,157 Referee: Andrew Ireland Friday 2nd April 2004, 19:05

Ceri Sweeney struck two last gasp penalties to steal a dramatic victory for the Celtic Warriors over Munster at Pontypridd

The Wales outside-half hit a minute before and after normal time to clinch a 29-25 win for the Welsh region and gain revenge for their one-point defeat at Munster last October. The victory capped a memorable night for the Warriors who made an emotional return to Sardis Road after playing all their games so far at the home of regional partners Bridgend. The bumper crowd were soon silenced however as Munster showed their class at soaking up the pressure by racing into an early 10-point lead through Jason Holland. Boosted by the return of several key players from injury and Triple Crown glory with Ireland, Munster wasted no time in getting back into the grove as Holland hit an early penalty then converted his try after linking cleverly with centre Mike Mullins. Paul O'Connell and Anthony Horgan both had their tries ruled out, for not grounding the ball and a forward pass respectively, as Munster took control. But Donncha O'Callaghan's yellow card for stamping saw the game swing back in the Warriors favour as Gethin Jenkins stormed over and Sweeney added the points with e boot to level the scores. Mullins continued to cause havoc behind the scrum and set up two further tries for Munster either side of half-time. The first for Horgan after 31 minutes, that was cancelled out by two Sweeney penalties, and the second, for Christian Cullen's first Munster try, was equalled and then bettered by the home side. No 8 Richard Bryan profited from the Warriors dominance at the scrum to touchdown from a pushover try in the 63rd minute. And despite Richard Parks being sent to the sin bin minutes later, the Warriors continued to surge forward forcing Munster to conceded those two late penalties.

Celtic Warriors V Munster   P D C T Pos Player Player Pos T C D P   Kevin Morgan 15 Christian Cullen 1 Gareth Wyatt 14 John Kelly Shaun James 13 Mike Mullins Jon Bryant 12 Rob Henderson Richard Mustoe 11 Anthony Horgan 1 5 2 Ceri Sweeney 10 Jason Holland 1 2 2 Gareth Cooper 9 Eoin Reddan 1 Gethin Jenkins 1 Frank Roche Matthew Rees 2 Jerry Flannery Chris Horsman 3 Gordon McIlwham Brent Cockbain 4 Donncha O'Callaghan Robert Sidoli 5 Paul O'Connell Richard Parks 6 Jim Williams Cory Harris 7 David Wallace 1 Richard Bryan 8 Anthony Foley Replacements Mefin Davies 16 Martin Cahill Martin Jones 17 Ross Callaghan Deiniol Jones 18 David Pusey Ryan Jones 19 Stephen Keogh Sililo Martens 20 Frank Murphy Neil Jenkins 21 Mossie Lawlor Aisea Havili Kaufusi 22 Shaun Payne Penalty Tries 0 0

All Pictures: ©  http://www.inpho.ie/, Huw Evans Agency,  Graham Stuart