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Munster sees off Treviso 28-5 in Italy to end their European Champions Cup campaign with a win
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The Irish provinces chances of qualifying were slim going into this match
Munster finished their European Champions Cup campaign with a flourish in a bonus-point 28-5 triumph at Benetton Treviso.
Early tries from Ronan O’Mahony and David Kilcoyne looked to have seen off the Italian challenge but, buoyed by the strength of their pack, Treviso got back in it thanks to a drive-over try from Marco Lazzaroni just before half-time.
But Conor Murray strolled through to score in the second half, before O’Mahony sealed the bonus point and a comfortable win for Anthony Foley’s side, who were already out of the Champions Cup.
MATCH ACTION
Within the first five minutes of play, O’Mahony poached a try off the back of a driving maul for his first points in European rugby. Fly-half Keatley then swept home the conversion to give the visitors a seven-point lead.
Kilcoyne was next to power his way over the line for the visitors after a quarter of an hour with Keatley again adding the extras confidently, 0-14.
Billy Holland saw yellow for a no-ball tackle and Treviso made the extra man count as they mauled their over the line from the subsequent penalty with Lazzaroni dotting down. The conversion though was missed, meaning Munster still held a nine-point advantage heading into half-time.
Early in the second half Munster edged further in front when Murray received the ball off the top of a line-out and managed to dance his way through a switched off Treviso defence to touch down for a terrific solo effort under the posts. Keatley maintained his 100% kicking record with the conversion to nudge the score up to 5-21.
replacement Jack O’Donoghue then broke through before offloading t O’Mahony, who was free to run through for his second try of the match. Keatley dissected the posts yet again with the conversion to seal the win for Munster and complete the games scoring, 5-28.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Munster: Ronan O’Mahony
Treviso: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Andrea Pratichetti, 13 Enrico Bacchin, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Simone Ragusi, 10 James Ambrosini, 9 Alberto Lucchese, 8 Abraham Steyn, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 Jean-François Montauriol, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Matteo Zanusso
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Salesi Manu, 19 Tom Palmer, 20 Marco Barbini, 21 Tommaso Iannone, 22 Samuel Christie, 23 Luke McLean
Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Francis Saili, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Ronan O’Mahony, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Billy Holland, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 4 Dave Foley, 3 John Ryan, 2 Mike Sherry, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 James Cronin, 18 Mario Sagario, 19 Robin Copeland, 20 Mark Chisholm, 21 Jack O’Donoghue, 22 Tomas O’Leary, 23 Gerhard van den Heever
Date:
Sunday, January 24
Venue: Stade Comunale di Monigo
Kick-off: 14:00 local (13:00 GMT)
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Assistant Referees: Cédric Marchat (France), Tual Trainini (France)
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure (France)