Munster back to instinctive best in Leicester shutout

Munster 38 Leicester 0

Great theatre, as the rarest thespian can show us, demands impeccable timing. When to go, when to stall, when to do nothing at all. Munster, performing on these hallowed boards, know this, they always have, but it is instinctive again.

The most valuable bonus point only arrived in the penultimate scene of this dominant display. The brilliantly unconventional Darren Sweetnam was involved, chipping on for Jaco Taute. The South African was poised to gather and dive over for a departing hat-trick gift to Limerick when Leicester fullback George Worth felled him.

Penalty try with Romain Poite flashing yellow to a third Leicester player.

Not as clinical as Leinster in Northampton, nor as impressive as Ulster’s explosion of tries in an acrimonious victory over Clermont, but Munster are remaining true to promises made to themselves before that Glasgow game.

The scoring threat comes from everywhere now. That's what happens when a pack sorts out primary possession in front of halfbacks like Conor Murray and Tyler Bleyendaal.

Bleyendaal deserves a paragraph all on his own. Superb line-kicking or to find Sweetnam in the air, along with five kicks from six in the opening 40 minutes, the one duffer showing his technique has not entered the robotic Dan Carter dimension quite yet.

But he’s getting there.

He seemed poised to slot a fifth penalty just on half-time but tapped and spun instead. The intent was to put Leicester out of their misery.

It came to nothing but at 19-0 the rest of the evening’s viewing became about patiently chasing the bonus.

They had plenty of work to do as the only try in the opening stanza came after the former Canterbury outhalf's boot had punished Leicester's illegal ground work, from neck rolling the nuisance that is Peter O'Mahony to blatant offside resulting in the sin-binning of Ed Slater.

That’s when O’Mahony and CJ Stander went through the gears. Carry after carry brought them within five metres of the Tigers try line but the defensive wall seemed impenetrable.

Murray disagreed. Already out-classing Ben Youngs, his main rival for the Lions Test jersey next summer, the Patrickswell man moved to deliver a short right to left pass for a charging Taute. Instead, at the last second, he flipped a reverse ball for his pal, Simon Zebo.

Untouchable.

Leicester had barely threatened to land a blow.

O'Mahony was immense over the tackled man, "rag-dolling" opposing captain Tom Youngs as Keith Wood told us on Newstalk. Stander had clocked into the double digit figures by the half hour, while Dave Kilcoyne and Tommy O'Donnell reinforced the depth of openside and loosehead quality in Ireland.

The machine is well oiled now. Murray, Stander, Bleyendaal bring the ideal balance of power and control that really should translate into multiple tries for the Zebo, Keith Earls and Sweetnam strike force.

The amount of training ground work done on the crossfield kick is clear to see. If the breaking ball fell more kindly the bonus point would have been banked on 50 minutes.

Instead the charge for four tries got going when the Taute option was finally employed, leaving Freddie Burns laid out on the turf, all from Donnacha Ryan's rolling maul.

The lineout, a polished Kiwi right boot, pace; this Rassie Erasmus project has plenty of weapons.

It should be noted that Leicester were atrocious.

Emotionally wise they were probably never going to win here for a third successive occasion, but none of their key figures made an impact.

Ben Youngs had just been taken off (one-nil Murray) when Sweetnam straightened in the outside channel before a delicate inside offload put Taute over for his second.

Manu Tuilagi proved his impetuous nature remains with his third cheap shot of the afternoon resulting in Leicester's second yellow card.

The ending was welcomed in sing song and the weekly CJ Stander announcement as man of the match.

MUNSTER: Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Jaco Taute, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Tyler Bleyendaal, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Donnacha Ryan, Billy Holland; Peter O'Mahony (capt), Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Ian Keatley for R Scannell (25-35 mins, blood) and for T Bleyendaal (72 mins), Jean Kleyn for B Holland (57 mins), Thomas du Toit for D Kilcoyne, Jack O'Donoghue for T O'Donnell (all 57 mins), Duncan Williams for C Murray (63 mins), Andrew Conway for S Zebo (68 mins).

LEICESTER: George Worth; Peter Betham, Manu Tuilagi, Owen Williams, Adam Thompstone; Freddie Burns, Ben Youngs; Ellis Genge, Tom Youngs (capt), Logovi'i Mulipola; Ed Slater, Graham Kitchener; Mike Fitzgerald, Brendon O'Connor, Lachlan McCaffrey.

Replacements: Luke Hamilton for M Fitzgerald (HIA, 42 mins), Jack Roberts for F Burns (HIA, 51 mins), Greg Bateman for L Mulipola (51 mins), Sam Harris for B Youngs (55 mins).

Referee: Romain Poite (France).