Munster thrash struggling Treviso
On-fire wing Simon Zebo’s two tries made sure Munster wouldn’t be denied in Italy this weekend as they exacted revenge for last season’s loss and picked up a bonus point by defeating Treviso 35-14 in the Pro 12.
Munster’s first match in a month held trepidations for forwards coach Anthony Foley that his team would be slow off the mark against the Italians.
Due to play Aironi in the Pro 12 last weekend a snowed-under pitch denied them game time to gel a side short of their international stars.
However, the irish side made the most of their opportunity by claiming the bonus point win, while Zebo took his try scoring tally to five in his last two matches.
Meanwhile, Niall O’Connor’s last-minute penalty helped struggling Connacht end a ten-game Pro 12 losing run, but it was a case of what might have been in their 13-13 draw against play-off chasing Warriors.
Eric Elwood’s side, who ran out 37-8 winners in the corresponding fixture last season, could easily have won if handling errors and ill-discipline had not hampered them once more.
Flyhalf O’Connor, who was off target twice in the first half, made amends with the last kick of the game after Tiernan O’Halloran had given Connacht hope with a try midway through the second period.
In Saturday’s final match the Dragons secured only their fourth victory in the pro 12 this season by beating Edinburgh 21-10.
Tries from Joe Bedford and Aled Brew helped the hosts to open up a 18-3 lead at half-time to take control of the match.
A late try by Edinburgh lock Grant Gilchrist wasn’t enough to let the Scottish side back into the match.
All the scores and scorers from the Saturday games:
Benetton Treviso 14-35 Munster
The scorers:
For Treviso:
Tries: Semenzato, Van Zyl
Cons: De Waal 2
Yellow card: Valerio Bernabò
For Munster:
Tries: Barnes, Zebo 2, Murphy
Cons: O’Gara 3
Pens: O’Gara 3
Teams:
Treviso: 15 Ludovico Nitoglia, 14 Tommaso Iannone, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Willem De Waal, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Marco Filippucci, 7 Benjamin Vermaak, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello (captain), 3 Pedro Di Santo, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Matteo Muccignat.
Repalcements: 16 Enrico Ceccato, 17 Augusto Allori, 18 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Gonzalo Padrò, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Edoardo Gori, 23 Alberto Di Bernardo.
Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Danny Barnes, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ronan O’Gara, 9 Tomas O’Leary, 8 James Coughlan, 7 Peter O’Mahony, 6 Dave O’Callaghan, 5 Mick O’Driscoll (captain), 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Tommy O’Donnell, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 Scott Deasy, 23 Felix Jones.
Connacht 13-13 Glasgow Warriors
The scorers:
For Connacht:
Try:
O’Halloran
Con: O’Connor
Pens: O’Connor 2
For Glasgow:
Try: Welsh
Con: Jackson
Pens: Jackson, Weir
Yellow card: Tommy Seymour
Teams:
Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy (captain), 14 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 13 Kyle Tonetti, 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Tiernan O’Halloran, 10 Niall O’Connor, 9 Paul O’Donohoe, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Eoghan Grace, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Ronan Loughney, 2 Adrian Flavin, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Denis Buckley, 18 Stewart Maguire, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Mick Kearney, 21 Dave Moore, 22 Matthew Jarvis, 23 Henry Fa’afili.
Glasgow: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Troy Nathan, 12 Graeme Morrison (captain), 11 David Lemi, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Tom Ryder, 4 Rob Verbakel, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Finlay Gillies, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 George Hunter, 19 Nick Campbell, 20 Duncan Weir, 21 Alex Dunbar, 22 Colin Shaw, 23 Calum Forrester.
Dragons 21-10 Edinburgh
The scorers:
For Dragons:
Tries: Bedford, Brew
Con: Tovey
Pens: Tovey 3
For Edinburgh:
Try: Gilchrist
Con: Hunter
Pen: Godman
Teams:
Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Adam Hughes, 13 Andy Tuilagi, 12 Ashley Smith (captain), 11 Aled Brew, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Joe Bedford,8 Gavin Thomas, 7 Darren Waters, 6 Lewis Evans, 5 Rob Sidoli,4 Jevon Groves, 3 Nathan Buck, 2 Steve Jones, 1 Nathan Williams.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Phil Price, Dan Way, Hugo Ellis, Tom Brown, Jon Evans, Lewis Robling, Will Harries.
Edinburgh: 15 Tom Brown, 14 Sep Visser, 13 Matt Scott, 12 John Houston, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Chris Leck, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Roddy Grant (captain), 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Jack Gilding, 2 Alun Walker, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Ulises Gamboa, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Alex Black, 22 Gregor Hunter, 23 Jim Thompson.
