2022 European Champions Cup quarter-final: Munster Rugby 24 Stade Toulousain 24 (p) (Aviva Stadium)

Munster Rugby were defeated at the Aviva stadium in Dublin on penalty kicks by Stade Toulousain in their Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final, an instant classic of modern European rugby.

With just five minutes left of regular time, it was Munster who looked set to go through to the semi-finals but a penalty from Thomas Ramos took the game to an additional period.

There, both sides failed to convert drop goal opportunities and it was Toulouse who held their nerve during the pressure of the rare and punishing place kicks.

In the Irish capital, it was the Irish province who registered the first points of the match. Alex Kendellen crossed over within the first ten minutes, but just moments after the restart Toulouse responded through Romain Ntamack to level the scores at seven apiece.

That set up a truly back-and-forth encounter in Dublin. Toulouse followed up their equalising try with another, Matthis Lebel crossing for his first of the match, but Munster took charge of the game as the end of the first half loomed.

Keith Earls and then Mike Haley went over either side of the break. A missed penalty from Munster’s Joey Carbery in between the two tries seemed as if it would be merely a footnote, but a fighting performance from Toulouse in the remainder of the second half meant the missed opportunity would prove crucial.

The French side, who were the defending champions at the time, held firm when temporarily reduced to 14 men on the 50th minute due to a dangerous tackle from lock Rory Arnold.

Toulouse conceded just one converted penalty and, when back at full strength, they broke the spirit of their Irish opponents.

Lebel’s outrageous individual second try in the 66th minute set up Ramos to level the scores at 24-24 with a 75th minute penalty, Healy unable to respond with a long-range effort with the clock in the red.

With additional time fruitless for both sides, and the two both having scored three tries, Toulouse showed their experience on place kicks, converting them all while Munster’s Conor Murray and Healy missed.

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