Heineken Champions Cup: Munster 26-10 Exeter (agg 34-23): Joey Carbery stars in comeback

Munster fly-half Joey Carbery scored 21 points in their victory over Exeter

Joey Carbery produced an inspired display as Munster overturned a first-leg deficit to beat Exeter and reach the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals.

Jack Maunder scored the first try for the visitors, who led 13-8 after the first leg, before Carbery crossed to hand Munster the lead.

Jacques Vermeulen powered over after the break but Carbery's boot edged the Irish side in front on aggregate.

Damian de Allende sealed it late on.

The Irish province will play defending champions Toulouse, who left it late to overcome Ulster, in the next round.

Munster recover from shaky start

Munster were 10 points down at one stage of the first leg, and recovered well in Exeter to reduce that deficit to five - but they did not start well on home soil.

Carbery nudged over an early penalty to get them on the board but it was the visitors who scored the first try as Maunder reacted quickly with a tap and go close to the line.

The hosts then lost the experienced Conor Murray for 10 minutes in the sin-bin but recovered well as Carbery handed them the lead once again.

The fly-half spotted Harry Williams in the Exeter line and had too much speed to evade the prop and score his side's first try.

Exeter threatened a fightback after the break as Vermeulen smashed through a couple of red shirts from close range but the boot of Carbery kept the Irish side out of touch.

As Carbery kept adding to the scoreboard, man of the match Peter O'Mahony got stuck in with the less glamorous work. The Ireland flanker made several key tackles and was a constant thorn in Exeter's side at the breakdown.

Neither Carbery nor O'Mahony had been available for the first leg - but both made crucial contributions here.

Indeed, with eight minutes left, fly-half Carbery has scored all of Munster's second-leg points.

But South Africa international De Allende applied the finishing touch when he latched on to Simon Zebo's pass close to the touchline.

Exeter, whose 2020 Champions Cup triumph took place behind closed doors because of Covid lockdown, will rue not putting the contest to bed in front of their raucous home support in the south west of England last weekend.

'The 16th man pulled us through' - what they said

Munster head coach Johann van Graan said: "Two very proud clubs went at each other, a very unique experience over the two legs, but the 16th man pulled us through today.

"We, as a group, said that to claw back that five-point difference is going to be massive. The fact that we were unbeaten in the pool stages meant that we were always going to finish up here at Thomond Park.

"We banked on the crowd and they were phenomenal today. We knew it was going to be a breakdown and a set-piece battle, that is why we went 6-2 again (in terms of the forwards-backs split on the bench).

"The starters did really well and I felt that the forwards that came on were massive, with some massive hits.

"Exeter keep the ball well and I felt we were extremely disciplined in terms of when to go for the breakdown. I'm very glad that we just came through, with plus-11 points over the two weekends."

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter said: "I can talk through the game in all kinds of ways, but there is a reality that we were not where we needed to be today to win that game.

"We started pretty brightly and then our first set in defence was so far off what we were achieving last week with its intensity and collision quality; that worried me a little bit.

"That probably made me have some concerns, with how simple that momentum came and how simple the (Carbery) try came. To be fair to the lads, we fought our way back into the game at times and we scored our second try; it becomes a tight contest again.

"I thought Munster were where they needed to be and we weren't. I think that is great credit to Munster and the crowd and the emotion they created together.

"I thought it was fantastic for them. But we needed to be better than we were today."

Line-ups

Munster: Haley; Earls, Farrell, De Allende; Zebo; Carbery, Murray; Wycherley, Scannell, Ryan; Kleyn, Wycherley; O'Mahony (capt), Hodnett, O'Donoghue.

Replacements: Barron, Loughman, Archer, Jenkins, Ahern, Casey, Healy, Kendellen.

Exeter: Hogg; Woodburn, Slade, Whitten, O'Flaherty; Simmonds, Maunder; Hepburn, Yeandle (capt), Williams; Gray, Skinner; Ewers, Kirsten, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Innard, Keast, Schickerling, Capstick, Grondona, Maunder, Gilbert-Hendrickson, Hodge.