United Rugby Championship: Cardiff Rugby 20-13 Munster - Hosts win after Liam Williams blow

Cardiff overcame the early injury departure of new signing Liam Williams to beat Munster in their opening match of the United Rugby Championship.

The Wales full-back was forced off after 20 minutes of his debut when he landed heavily on his left shoulder.

Tries from Max Llewellyn and Kristian Dacey put the hosts 12-6 up but Jack O'Sullivan's try nudged Munster ahead.

Jarrod Evans' penalty regained the lead for the hosts, before Aled Summerhill's late try sealed a deserved victory.

• Eddie Butler: The remarkable life of the 'voice of rugby'

• Williams suffers 'significant injury' for Cardiff

A sunlit afternoon in the Welsh capital began with an impeccably observed silence for Queen Elizabeth II and a stirring round of applause for Eddie Butler, the former Wales captain and legendary BBC broadcaster who passed away this week.

The hosts started brightly and had a try on the board within three minutes.

Strong carries from captain Josh Turnbull and outstanding new recruit Taulupe Faletau created space for Llewellyn. The young centre initially appeared to be held but used his strength to barrel through the Munster defence and over.

Jarrod Evans was off target with the conversion attempt and Healy made it 5-3 with his first penalty after a strong carry from captain Jack O'Donoghue.

Cardiff continued to enjoy the majority of territory and possession but twice refused shots at goal in favour of going for the corner. On both occasions their ambition went unrewarded as Munster won a turnover close to their line, before a botched line-out undid the second opportunity.

The visitors started to build some momentum themselves and after wing Liam Coombes was held up just short of the line, Healy nudged Munster in front with his second penalty.

But Cardiff regained the lead before half-time with their second try following a well-worked line-out move.

Taulupe Faletau (right) was named player of the match after an outstanding debut

Llewellyn charged through a gap onto a short pass and then fed the supporting Dacey to plunge over, Evans adding the extras for a 12-6 interval advantage.

Faletau, back in Wales after his summer move from Bath, showed his enduring class with some stunning individual moments - first some nifty footwork and an athletic offload, then another pass off the floor before a grubber-kick had Munster back-pedalling again.

Moments later, the Wales and British and Irish Lions number eight launched a clearing kick from close to the right touchline that the alert Thomas Young sprinted onto, only for a try-saving tackle from Munster full-back Shane Daly to deny Cardiff another try.

A forward pass with seven minutes left, after a sparkling break from Josh Adams, was Faletau's first and only mistake of a superb debut.

But Cardiff could not shake off the obdurate visitors.

Just after the hour Munster won a penalty on halfway and kicked to the corner. A series of close-range drives from the line-out ended with number eight O'Sullivan plunging over, replacement fly-half Jack Crowley converting to put Munster 13-12 ahead.

Cardiff rallied and regained the lead with a simple Evans penalty from in front of the posts.

The frayed nerves of the Arms Park crowd were eventually calmed when replacement centre Willis Halaholo showed some deft footwork on the right flank to send Summerhill - a late replacement for Owen Lane, who turned his ankle in the warm-up - racing over.

Evans missed the conversion to ensure the tension lasted for a further minute but Cardiff held on to celebrate their first victory over the Irish province for four years.

Cardiff director of rugby Dai Young told Scrum V:

"You can never discount Munster. Right up to the last few minutes a lot of people would have put money on them to come back.

"I'm really pleased. We played some good stuff and we matched their physicality because we had to.

"We probably just needed to be a bit more clinical because we had opportunities to make it more comfortable, and we were pretty close to scoring a few more points.

"But it is never easy to get a win against Munster. It was certainly not a perfect performance but a good way to start. We know there are lots of things to improve on and we are not going to get ahead of ourselves, because we have to be better again next week."

Cardiff captain Josh Turnbull told Scrum V:

"It's massive to get that win. The big message is be consistent and if we're going to do that, we've got to back it up next week.

"I didn't think at any point we were going to lose the game. Jarrod could have kicked the points at the end after that last try to make it easier, but we love living on the edge.

"Full credit to the boys, they really dug deep and we got the W (win) in the end."

Cardiff: Liam Williams; Aled Summerhill, Rey Lee-Lo, Max Llewellyn, Josh Adams; Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carré, Kristian Dacey, Dillon Lewis, Josh Turnbull (capt.), Seb Davies, James Botham, Thomas Young, Taulupe Faletau

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Rhys Barratt, Dmitri Arhip, Matthew Screech, Lopeti Timani, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Priestland, Uilisi Halaholo

Munster: Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Chris Farrell, Malakai Fekitoa, Liam Coombes; Ben Healy, Paddy Patterson; Josh Wycherley, Niall Scannell, Keynan Knox; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O'Donoghue (C), Alex Kendellen, Jack O'Sullivan.

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Dave Kilcoyne, Roman Salanoa, Tom Ahern, John Hodnett, Neil Cronin, Jack Crowley, Antoine Frisch.

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

Assistant referees: Ben Breakspear & Mike English (WRU)

TMO: Sam Grove-White (SRU)