Cardiff took a giant stride towards the URC play-offs with a thrilling 26-21 bonus point victory over top eight rivals Munster in their final home match of the season.
It’s a result which takes Matt Sherratt’s team up to fifth in the table with games against the Bulls and the Stormers to come out in South Africa in the final two rounds of the league campaign.
In front of a bumper crowd of 11,253, they turned round a 14-12 interval deficit with scrum-half Johan Mulder claiming the match-winning try 15 minutes from time.
That sniping score followed a penalty try as the hosts added to the first half score from wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb and centre Harri Millard.
Crucially, they capitalised fully on two yellow cards, scoring three of their four tries when the visitors were down to 14 men.
This was Cardiff’s first victory over Irish opposition since September 2022, when they also beat Munster, ending a run of 12 successive defeats.
They showed three changes from the side that defeated the Ospreys 36-19 on Judgement Day, with second row Josh McNally, who has just signed a contract extension, returning after lining up on the blindside flanker for the RAF against the Navy last weekend.
It was an emotional night with some players making their final home appearances for the club before moving on, including flanker Thomas Young and prop Rhys Litterick, who are joining the Dragons and Edinburgh, respectively.
When the game got underway, the hosts made a really positive start, and it looked as though they had taken an early lead when South African Mulder raced over after nine phases of play.
But, after the conversion had been missed by Ben Thomas, the try was eventually disallowed with prop Danny Southworth adjudged to have delivered a forward scoring pass after bursting through.
So, as it turned out, it was to be Munster who put the first points on the board after 13 minutes.
Their scrum-half Craig Casey was the key man in the construction, first darting up to the whitewash and then throwing out a monster pass for wing Calvin Nash to cross out on the right, with Jack Crowley adding the conversion.
Cardiff responded with a period of pressure that saw them narrowly denied in the corner following an intricate lineout move before Munster lock Fineen Wycherley was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on.
The hosts proceeded to make the most of their extra man as they scored two tries in the space of three minutes while Wycherley was in the sin bin.
First, Hamer-Webb added to his hat-trick against the Ospreys at the Principality Stadium as he plucked a Callum Sheedy pass out of the air following a midfield break from Liam Belcher and a delightful flick by Ben Thomas.
Hamer-Webb, who performed wonders in the air all night long, was then involved in the build-up to Cardiff’s second try as he collected a Thomas cross kick on the bounce and offloaded to Taulupe Faletau on halfway.
It was then over to the ageless class of Faletau, who burst down the left touchline and delivered a perfectly timed inside pass to Millard, who managed to slide forward and get the ball down despite being ankle tapped.
That was Millard’s eighth touchdown of the season in the league making him the competition’s joint top try scorer along with Glasgow hooker Johnny Matthews.
It’s an even more impressive stat as this was just his 11th URC appearance during a season where he has had two spells out injured.
Sheedy added the conversion, but it was Munster who were to have the final word in the half.
Restored to their full complement by Wycherley’s return, they produced some neat back-line interplay for Mike Haley to claim a score which gave them a 14-12 interval lead.
The visitors went further ahead ten minutes into the second half when a period of sustained attacking culminated in centre Tom Farrell going in under the posts.
But back came Cardiff with a pivotal penalty try, which was awarded after a protracted TMO review, which also resulted in flanker Jack O’Donoghue being yellow carded for coming from an offside position to prevent Belcher getting the ball down off a lineout maul drive.
That cut the deficit to two points once again as the game moved into the final quarter and the crowd really started to make themselves heard.
The home supporters then had even more reason to cheer as Cardiff went in front shortly before O’Donoghue returned to the field.
Following an attacking lineout, Josh Adams carried in midfield before the ball was spun left with Cam Winnett slicing through to within feet of the whitewash.
It was then a job for Mulder to provide the finish as he nipped in from close range, with Thomas adding the conversion.
Sheedy had a couple of chances to stretch the lead but was off target with a drop goal attempt and then struck an upright with a penalty from wide out.
There was to be a nerve-jangling finale as Munster threw everything into attack during three minutes of added time, but Cardiff held firm for a priceless bonus point win.
Scorers:
Cardiff Rugby: Tries: Gabe Hamer-Webb, Harri Millard (2), Penalty Try. Conversions: Callum Sheedy, Ben Thomas.
Munster Rugby: Tries: Calvin Nash, Mike Haley, Tom Farrell. Conversions: Jack Crowley (3).
Teams
Cardiff Rugby: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Gabe Hamer-Webb, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Botham, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (c), 1 Danny Southworth. Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Alun Lawrence,21 Ben Donnell, 22 Aled Davies, 23 Tinus de Beer.
Munster Rugby: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell,11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Alex Kendellen, 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Tadhg Beirne (c), 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Michael Milne. Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Mark Donnelly, 18 Ronan Foxe, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Ruadhán Quinn, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Seán O’Brien.