Munster ease past Treviso in Champions Cup clash in Italy
By Andy Swales
Last Updated: 24/01/16 6:23pm
It was plain sailing for Munster in Italy where the Irish province ran in four tries during their 28-5 Champions Cup victory over Benetton Treviso.
In a Pool 4 match between two sides who were unable to qualify for the last eight of the competition, Ronan O'Mahony scored a brace of tries for the visitors, with Francis Saili and Conor Murray also touching down.
Winger O'Mahony needed just four minutes to open the scoring before Saili notched the second following a quick tap penalty.
Murray snatched the third try shortly after the break, after selling Marco Lazzaroni a dummy, before Jack O'Donohugh created the final touchdown for O'Mahony to race into the corner 15 minutes from time.
Ian Keatley kicked his fourth conversion to end the contest with eight points.
Treviso scored a try of their own, just before half-time, and not long after the visitors had lost Billy Holland to the sin-bin for going offside at a maul.
The hosts took advantage as they drove over the resulting lineout with Lazzaroni credited with the try.
Munster end Pool 4 in third spot, while Treviso finish the group stage as the only team rooted on zero points.
Despite the comfortable win, Munster head coach Anthony Foley says his players need to be more clinical.
"It was a bit scrappy at times, but I thought we started really well by getting the 14 points," he said.
"We gave them a foothold back in the game and they got some dominance in the scrum at the end of the first half, which allowed them to build pressure on us as we conceded penalties and got a yellow card.
"I talked at half-time about us having a serious lack of control. We made good breaks but made poor decisions about when to pass the ball. It's just the lack of execution at times. The two scores for us came a bit early and we got a bit loose.
"We put a good physical stamp on it but, after we scored a couple of tries, we thought we could score from anywhere, which is the wrong attitude to have."
Foley did, however, pay tribute to the Munster fans who had travelled to Italy for what was ultimately a dead rubber.
He added: "The support was excellent. It was unusual to be away and have 50 per cent of the support."