.... and it found a teammate!
Munster are without the scrum-half, and generalship, services of Conor Murray for the foreseeable future but, in Alby Mathewson, they have got a replacement that backs himself.
Alby Mathewson has played Super Rugby, has lined out for Toulon and five Test caps for the All Blacks. In short, the 32-year-old Kiwi is pretty handy.
Signed on a short-term contract while Murray recovers from a neck injury, Mathewson made his Munster debut. On a brisk Saturday evening at Thomond Park, he made his first big impacts.
Munster got off to a flyer against an Ulster side not long back from a two-game spin to South Africa. Peter O'Mahony secured a turnover in his own half and a smart kick up the oppsite flank, after some slick handling, released Alex Wootton.
The winger, in for the injured Mike Haley, found centre Dan Goggin in support and it was 5-0. Joey Carbery added the extra and did so again, soon after, when Tommy O'Donnell's line-break punished Ulster again.
https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/1046108910095147008
O'Mahony would soon fashion another scoring chance - a successful Carbery penalty - but before all that, Mathewson showed off some Kiwi flair.
The ball was kicked out by Billy Burns and while just about every person in the ground expected a lineout, the Munster No.9 thought, 'Hah, I'll find Rory Scannell here'.
Mathewson unfurled a gem of a quarterback pass and, for his sake, he was blessed Scannell was wide to it and clung on.
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Credit: eir Sport[/caption]
The attack was on again and Ulster were scrambling. This is how the New Zealanders do it.
The QB pass definitely got some love.
https://twitter.com/threeredkings/status/1046109157458407424
https://twitter.com/Diarm_Linehan/status/1046109287284707334
https://twitter.com/governator99/status/1046109103117021184
Opposition sides will have to be tuned in whenever they face Munster and their new scrum-half Alby Mathewson again.
