Pro12 round-up:Munster could be without Tommy O'Donnell for the back-to-back Heineken Cup meetings with Saracens after the flanker suffered a recurrence of his ankle during last night's 31-3 win over the Glasgow Warriors. O'Donnell scored a try, with man-of-the-match CJ Stander adding a brace of his own, but the injury could threaten his participation on Saturday.
“He has had a tremendous month and I hope he can keep solid,” explained Munster coach Rob Penney afterwards. “He has a bit of an ankle injury going on and had to come off again with that today.”
Stander marked his home debut for Munster with two tries as they bagged a late bonus point at Thomond Park. The South African flanker lunged over from a close-in ruck for his first, but his second — nearing half-time — was a dazzling diagonal run out of the Munster 22 that saw him outpace the Glasgow chasers.
His back-row colleague O’Donnell sandwiched a try in between, leaving the province 24-3 ahead at the break with Ronan O’Gara landing three conversions and a penalty. DTH van der Merwe went closest to crossing the whitewash for the Warriors, who leaked a penalty try to the hosts with six minutes remaining, which O’Gara converted.
Earlier at the RDS, Leinster coach Joe Schmidt received a clean bill of health as they warmed up for the trip to Clermont next weekend with a facile 37-7 rout of Zebre. Jonathan Sexton and Sean O’Brien were both replaced at the interval but Schmidt explained afterwards that it was merely a precautionary measure and both shout be available for the trip to France.
Fergus McFadden scored two of Leinster’s five tries as they earned a bonus point in their first meeting with the Italians. Andrew Conway and Sexton touched down in the first half at the RDS, McFadden’s brace followed after the break and Cian Healy also crossed having been sprung from the bench. The Italians threatened at various intervals through wingers Leonardo Sarto and Sinoti Sinoti, and got a deserved try in the 48th minute from scrum-half Tito Tebaldi.
Over at the Sportsground in Galway, Edinburgh outscored Connacht by three tries to two as they picked up just their second away victory since January. Tim Visser, Matt Scott and Stuart McInally all crossed for the Scottish side in Galway, with Willie Faloon and Danie Poolman touching down for the hosts. Greig Laidlaw provided the assists for the Scott and McInally tries, in addition to his kicking haul of three conversions and a penalty. Former Scotland outhalf Dan Parks, who finished with 13 points, had a late chance to win it for Connacht but his drop goal effort shaved the right hand post.
