Sweetnam Marks Munster Return With Bonus Point Score In Milan

Darren Sweetnam capped his first appearance for Munster since October with the bonus point try in a 28-0 GUINNESS PRO14 victory away to 14-man Zebre in Milan.

In-form out-half JJ Hanrahan had the biggest influence on proceedings, producing a man-of-the-match performance as his 13-point haul and two try assists helped the province to hold onto second place in Conference B.

It was a hard slog in the first half even though Zebre winger Pierre Bruno was sent-off as early as the 10th minute. He was dismissed for leading with an elbow into the chin/neck area of Munster’s Chris Cloete.

Calvin Nash scored from Craig Casey’s box-kick soon after, establishing an early 7-0 lead, but Munster had to be patient before further tries from Hanrahan (52 minutes), Rory Scannell (56) and Sweetnam (73) wrapped up the full points.

Giving his reaction afterwards, Munster head coach Johann van Graan said: “It was an average first half performance from our side, a lot of errors, (we) didn’t see a lot of the ball. Couldn’t get out of our half and discipline not good enough.

“A lot better second half. A bit of disruption losing Shane Daly in the warm-up, and then losing our captain Niall Scannell, and then Craig (Casey) straight after half-time. But really proud of the guys that we got the job done, firstly with the win and the bonus point. We’ll take that.

“Like I said before the game, Zebre are a really, really tough side to beat at home. I said to the guys there it was most important that we defended our line right there at the end to keep them to zero.

“I thought JJ played really well. I thought there were some good performances from a few lads in the team. But for us it’s not about the man-of-the-match. JJ is played some really good rugby this season, but it’s about the team performance and we’ll take the five points and move on.”

Academy out-half Jake Flannery made his Munster debut as a replacement during the final minutes, the Tipperary youngster having been included on the bench after Daly (glute) pulled up in the warm-up. Sweetnam, back from a hamstring injury, moved into the starting XV.

Both teams stood for a minute’s silence before kick-off at Stadio Giovanni Mari to honour the memory of former Munster Rugby CEO Garrett Fitzgerald after his sad passing last Friday.

Bruno missed a long-range penalty inside the opening minutes before he led with the forearm as he went into contact against Cloete. Referee Dan Jones felt he ‘had no option’ but to produce his red card following a review of the incident with TMO Sean Brickell.

The Munstermen hit the front in the 10th minute following their first real attack of note. A good lineout maul trundled into the Zebre half and winger Nash chased superbly to beat out Josh Renton and get the lightest of touches on Casey’s clever kick in behind the defence.

Nash’s second try in as many games was converted by Hanahan, before the visitors, who had Academy back rower Jack O’Sullivan packing down at number 8, required some strong maul defence to prevent Zebre from scoring in the 20th minute.

Stand-in captain Niall Scannell departed with an ankle injury sustained during the defensive effort. He handed the captaincy reins to his older brother Rory. Kevin O’Byrne came on at hooker for a Munster side that was struggling to gain ground from some lacklustre tactical kicking.

Despite being a player down, Zebre took the game to the visitors for the remainder of the opening half with 70% possession. Indeed, van Graan’s charges were glad to still be seven points up after Italy-capped centre Tommaso Boni was bundled into touch.

Munster full-back Mike Haley was also squeezed out as they pressed for a late first half try, but there was no denying Hanrahan in the third quarter. He crossed to the left of the posts from replacement Neil Cronin’s pass, the quick ruck ball allowing them to exploit the space out wide.

The Kerry native, who converted his own try, increased his influence by firing out an arcing skip pass for centre Scannell’s score in the right corner. Cloete had carried strongly in the build-up and Hanrahan also nailed the touchline conversion for good measure.

As Munster went in pursuit of the bonus point, the returning Tommy O’Donnell and Gavin Coombes led a forceful bout of carrying, and some deft handling in midfield from front rowers Jeremy Loughman and O’Byrne gave Hanrahan the time and space to release Sweetnam for the left corner.

Hanrahan’s conversion made it 20 successful place-kicks in a row in the PRO14 for the 27-year-old play-maker. Zebre rallied as they came in search of some late consolation points, but Munster defended smartly and stoutly to keep their valiant Italian hosts scoreless.