Munster blow Sharks out the water
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Munster ended their European Rugby Champions Cup campaign on a high with a 65-10 thumping of Sale Sharks at Thomond Park.
The floodgates opened after a tight first-half and the Munstermen scored eight tries to claim a five-point victory and cement their third place finish in Pool One.
It took less than two minutes for Munster to flex their European muscles as Simon Zebo crashed over. Ronan O'Mahony burst down his left flank before Ian Keatley spread the ball wide to Zebo, who wrestled his way past the covering defence to score.
Keatley converted two penalties to Nick McLeod's one before the Sharks bit back. Left wing Tom Arscott took the ball in midfield and dummied his way past Andrew Conway before he brushed aside Keatley on his way to score.
Andrew Conway was sent to the sin-bin moments later as Munster struggled to stem the Sale pressure, but they survived the onslaught to take a 13-10 lead in at the break.
Munster started the second-half just like the first with a magic moment from Keith Earls on his return from injury. The Ireland centre showed no signs of his four month lay-off when he latched onto Ivan Dineen's pass to slice through the defence and run 60 metres to score.
And they turned the screw ten minutes later. The hosts decimated the Sale scrum from five metres out and Peter O'Mahoney crashed over, but referee Marius Mitrea had already blown for a penalty try.
Replacement centre Pat Howard, on loan from Western Province, wrapped up the bonus-point after 65 minutes after latching onto Keatley's inside pass. The Munstermen ended all hope of a Sale comeback with another two tries in as many minutes.
Zebo wriggled over at the corner after a Dineen break before turning provider to Conway, who sprinted over after Zebo broke downfield. O'Donnell secured the seventh before Duncan Williams and Conway went over to complete the 65-10 rout.
Scorers:
For Munster:
Tries: Zebo 2, Earls, Penalty try, Howard, Conway 2, O'Donnell, Hanrahan, Williams
Cons: Keatley 4, Hanrahan 3
Pens: Keatley 2
For Sale:
Try: Arscott
Con: Macleod
Pen: Macleod
Teams:
Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Denis Hurley, 11 Ronan O'Mahony, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 Peter O'Mahony (captain), 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Dave O'Callaghan, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Dave Foley, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Duncan Casey, 1 James Cronin.
Replacements: 16 Eusebio Guinazu, 17 John Ryan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 Ivan Dineen, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Pat Howard.
Sale Sharks: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Will Addison, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Tom Arscott, 10 Nick MacLeod, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Vili Fihaki, 7 David Seymour (captain), 6 Mark Easter, 5 Josh Beaumont, 4 Andrei Ostrikov, 3 Ross Harrison, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Alberto de Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 James Flynn, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 George Nott, 20 Andrew Hughes, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Andy Forsyth.
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant referees: Patrick Pechambert (France), Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
TMO: Eric Gonthier (France)
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