Munster racked up seven tries as they dominated the much-changed Ospreys in a comprehensive 49-13 GUINNESS PRO14 win at Irish Independent Park tonight.
They christened the Cork venue’s new 3G modified pitch with a 16th-minute penalty try and converted scores from Joey Carbery, James Cronin and Rhys Marshall to lead 28-6 at half-time. Sam Davies landed two penalties for the Ospreys who had both Giorgi Nemsadze and Adam Beard sin-binned.
Captain and seasonal debutant Peter O’Mahony kept Munster on the front foot and further tries from Marshall, Arno Botha and Darren Sweetnam wrapped up a big bonus point victory, with out-half Carbery finishing with 15 points. Wales Sevens star Luke Morgan marked his PRO14 debut with a try for the well-beaten visitors.
Happy with how Munster reacted to last week’s disappointing 25-10 defeat in Glasgow, centre Sam Arnold said: “It was good to get the bonus point, get back to Cork and bounce back from last weekend, so the boys are pretty happy and really enjoying the win.
“The boys up front got us the go-forward and then having Joey there injecting that spark and turning defenders in makes the job easier for the boys outside. There’s a lot of things we can get better at but I felt the back-line is starting to gel quite nicely.
“It’s always awesome to play here in Cork, I absolutely love playing here. There’s a real family feel to the stadium. The fans are always on your back and it’s a great stadium to play at. The new pitch is very fast. The lungs are burning for big Pete, his first game back! It gives you that extra attacking spark, we can play it quicker, we can play it to the edges and it’s what we really want to improve on.”
Although the Ospreys travelled across as Conference A leaders, they made a dozen changes from their hammering of the Toyota Cheetahs and rested captain Justin Tipuric, Alun Wyn Jones and George North. With Tadhg Beirne, on his first start, and the fit-again Chris Cloete both starring up front, Munster were very much the aggressors.
The hosts had the better of a frenetic opening 10 minutes, man-of-the-match Cloete making his mark with a muscular rip in the tackle and a trademark breakdown poach. However, their best chance was spoiled by second row Beirne losing his footing after full-back Mike Haley had done well to regather his own chip.
The Ospreys suffered a double blow when a powerful maul earned Munster their penalty try, with Georgian lock Nemsadze seeing yellow for collapsing it. Davies landed a well-struck penalty in response, but his poor exit kick was turned into a second Munster try by a brilliant burst up the left wing from Carbery.
After a second successful penalty from Davies, Cloete’s classy carry right up to the region’s try-line set up prop Cronin to place the ball against the post for try number three. Carbery converted and also added the extras to Marshall’s maul effort just before the interval, which was preceded by Beard’s binning for a lineout infringement.
The 14 men leaked another maul try to Marshall, two minutes into the second half, and South African number 8 Botha quickly followed him, barging over impressively following an O’Mahony interception. Botha was held up soon after and the Ospreys salvaged some pride with winger Morgan’s opportunist 60th-minute score from a bouncing kick past halfway.
Carbery’s replacement Ian Keatley and Botha combined to send Sweetnam weaving over barely two minutes later, and an eighth try eluded Munster in the closing stages, Hanno Dirksen denying James Hart after a barnstorming run through the middle by fellow replacement Tommy O’Donnell.
Giving his reaction afterwards, Munster head coach Johann van Graan said: “I thought our breakdown performance was exceptional tonight, not only on our ball but also on defensive breakdown, we chose a few more poaches and there were a lot of poaches available tonight.
“Pretty happy with the reaction )following our loss away to Glasgow) and any time you score four tries in the first half, it sets you up for a good win. I’ll take the five points any day of the week.”
The province’s second bonus point triumph of the campaign did come at a cost, however, with prop John Ryan limping off with an ankle injury in the second half having replaced starting tighthead Stephen Archer who had departed for a head injury assessment.
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