Munster motor past Treviso
Munster are in pole position to finish top of Pool One in the Heineken Cup following a bonus-point victory over Treviso.
Last Updated: 16/01/10 4:13pm
Munster are in pole position to finish top of Pool One in the Heineken Cup following an emphatic bonus-point victory over Treviso.
The Italian champions were overwhelmed by a first-half blitz from the Irish province before crashing to a 44-7 defeat on home soil.
Denis Hurley, Keith Earls, Donncha O'Callaghan and Paul Warwick all crossed in the opening 36 minutes for the two-time champions - a second Earls score and one at the death from Donnacha Ryan sealing a comprehensive win.
Alessandro Zanni hit back with an opportunistic score for Treviso, however the home side were totally outclassed in all departments and have been eliminated from the competition after the defeat.
Clinical
The Italians spurned a guilt-edge chance to take the lead in the very first minute of the match, fly-half Marius Goosen dragging a routine penalty chance wide.
And Munster made their opponents pay with a brilliant counter-attacking score moments later. Ireland centre Earls made the initial break, he fed the ball inside to Paul O'Connell, who in turn helped the ball on to Hurley and he finished expertly in the corner.
O'Gara missed a tough conversion but he was presented with another opportunity just minutes later when Earls, the creator of the first try, got his name on the scoresheet after another piece of clinical attacking play from the visitors.
Doug Howlett cut off his wing and broke the gain-line at pace before feeding the supporting Earls who jogged over in the corner.
O'Gara was once again off target with his conversion, but before the home side had a chance to recover, Munster were celebrating their third try in a crazy opening 11 minutes.
With Treviso all at sea, neat play on the touchline between David Wallace and O'Callaghan sent the latter on his way and he cantered between the posts. O'Gara made it third time lucky with his conversion to put the visitors 17-0 ahead.
The avalanche of Munster pressure continue and with 16 minutes on the clock more defensive indiscipline allowed O'Gara to fire over a penalty to extend the lead to 20-0.
Breathtaking
After failing to capitalise on some dangerous territory thereafter, Treviso eventually got their reward when Zanni intercepted a misplaced pass from Tomas O'Leary on the halfway line and sprinted over unchallenged. Goosen added the extras to reduce the lead to 20-7.
But any hopes of a fightback were shortlived, O'Gara superbly executed a long-range penalty on the half-hour before Warwick clinched a bonus-point six minutes before the break.
The Munster full-back latched onto his own deft kick over the static Treviso defence to cross under the posts. O'Gara's kick put Munster 30-7 ahead at the interval.
The Italians came out with plenty of endeavour at the start of the second period, however they simply lacked the quality to break down Munster's stubborn backline.
Jean de Villiers lit up the second period with a breathtaking break on 62 minutes - Earls once again on hand to cross for his second try of the afternoon.
And, with coach Tony McGahan able to throw on a number of fresh legs as the game wore on, Ryan put the icing on the cake in stoppage time.
