Munster's second-half floors Scarlets

MATCH REPORT: Munster made it 10 successive wins against Welsh opposition as player-of-the-match Gavin Coombes shone in a 29-8 victory over Scarlets at Thomond Park.

Coombes (2), Alex Kendellen and Tom Farrell all crossed during the second half for Munster, who move up to fifth in the United Rugby Championship.

Replacement Macs Page scored Scarlets’ only try, the visitors having trailed 7-3 at half-time following Shay McCarthy’s converted effort midway through an uninspiring opening 40 minutes.

Having fallen behind to an Ioan Lloyd penalty, Munster made up for Tom Ahern’s cancelled try – there was a knock-on at a maul – when a quick move off another maul sent McCarthy over.

Scarlets had initially defended well during Joe Roberts’ sin-binning for a deliberate knock-on, yet Munster centres Rory Scannell and Farrell combined to play in pacy replacement McCarthy.

Loose handling, scrappy phases and overcooked kicks made for a poor second quarter, with the Scarlets defence managing to frustrate the home side.

Nonetheless, Munster delivered a much-improved third quarter as their forwards took control and converted the pressure into points.

The scorers:

For Munster:
Tries: McCarthy, Coombs 2, Kendellen, Farrell
Cons: Burns 2

Scarlets:
Try: Page
Pen: Lloyd

Teams: 

Munster: 15 Ben O’Connor, 14 Shane Daly, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Dairmuid Kilgallen, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Ethan Coughlan, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Alex Kendellen, 6 Jack O’Donoghue (captain), 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Tom Ahem, 3 Oli Jager, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Josh Wycherley.
Replacements: 16 Danny Sheahan, 17 Kieran Ryan, 18 John Ryan, 19 Evan O’Connell, 20 Brian Gleeson, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Shay McCarthy.

Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Ellis , 13 Joe Roberts , 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Vaea Fifita, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Max Douglas, 3 Archer Holz, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Alex Hepburn, 18 Sam Wainwright 19 Alex Craig, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Macs Page

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant referees: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland) & Paul Haycock (Ireland)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)

United Rugby Championship

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Leinster

11

11

0

0

52

2

Glasgow

10

7

3

0

37

3

Bulls

10

7

3

0

35

4

Sharks

10

7

3

0

34

5

Munster

11

6

5

0

31

6

Cardiff Rugby

10

5

4

1

29

7

Benetton

11

5

5

1

28

8

Scarlets

11

5

5

1

27

9

Edinburgh

11

4

7

0

25

10

Stormers

11

4

7

0

24

11

Lions

9

5

4

0

23

12

Ospreys

11

4

6

1

23

13

Ulster

11

4

7

0

23

14

Zebre

11

4

7

0

20

15

Connacht

10

3

7

0

19

16

Gwent Dragons

10

1

9

0

8