RABODIRECT PRO 12 Munster 19 Treviso 6:MUNSTER continued their good start to the season with a comprehensive victory at Thomond Park last night as they secured their second win of the campaign.
But they failed to build on a good first-half performance when it seemed a bonus point would also be secured.
Munster were applauded from the field at half-time after a polished performance had seen them race 16-3 in front.
New coach Rob Penney has promised a running game but warned that it may take time to perfect but Munster were clearly fired up to lay down a marker at Thomond Park last night.
Treviso may have received an early boost with a penalty from out-half Alberto Di Bernardo from 35 metres after three minutes, but it was all Munster after that in the opening half.
They struck a telling blow after six minutes when a rehearsed lineout overthrow put Dave O’Callaghan away and he made the hard yards into the the 22 before sending his new skipper Doug Howlett over for a try which Ian Keatley converted with ease.
Munster, who were forced to start without Donncha O’Callaghan whose wife went into labour, continued to pile on the pressure, but were content to tack on the points, with Keatley making no mistake with three penalties against Treviso, who had made eight changes to the side which defeated champions Ospreys 12-6 on the opening weekend.
Munster, with James Downey superb in the centre and another new signing Seán Dougall also catching the eye in the backrow, showed a great willingness to throw the ball around and it was clearly only a matter of time before their superiority was going to be reflected on the scoreboard.
Munster continued to dominate after the restart and after Luke O’Dea and Casey Laulala were stopped short, Keatley extended the lead to 19-3 after 50 minutes after Treviso centre Alberto Sgarbi was yellow-carded for killing the ball.
But Treviso, who were the first to ring the changes in the third quarter, defended well despite spending most of the third quarter penned inside their own 22.
And they reduced the margin going into the final quarter when Di Bernardo slotted over his second penalty from in front of the posts on a rare Treviso attack.
Munster finished with 14 players when replacement hooker Mike Sherry was yellow-carded two minutes from time for killing the ball as Treviso came in search of a losing bonus point. But the Munster line was never really threatened.
MUNSTER: D Hurley; D Howlett, C Laulala, J Downey, L O'Dea; I Keatley, D Williams; W du Preez, D Varley, S Archer; D Foley, B Holland; Dave OCallaghan, S Dougall, J Coughlan. Replacements: M Sherry for Varley, D Kilcoyne for du Preez (both 51); P Butler for Coughlan (55); T O'Donnell for O'Callaghan (61); I Dineen for Laulala (64); P Stringer for Williams (67); S Deasy for Keatley (70); BJ Botha for Archer (72)
BENETTON TREVISO: B Williams; L Nitoglia, A Sgarbi, L Morisi, T Iannone; A Di Bernardo, E Gori; M Rizzo, E Ceccato, L Cittadini; A Pavanello, V Bernabò; S Favaro, D Budd, P Derbyshire. Replacements: F Semenzato for Morisi (40); A De Marchi for Rizzo, I Fernandez-Rouyet for Cittadini, C Van Zyl for Pavanello (all 47); R Barbieri for Favaro (51); G Maistri for Ceccato (64); A Zanni for Budd (67); K Burton for Gori (71).
Referee: A McMenemy(SRU).
