Red Army run riot in Paris to honour Foley
MUNSTER scored four tries to thrash Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup tie rearranged after the death of their head coach Anthony Foley in October.
Simon Zebo, CJ Stander and Andrew Conway all touched down as the visitors led 25-0 at the break in Paris.
Niall Scannell dived over to secure the bonus point before Matthieu Voisin scored a consolation try for the much-changed French champions.
It means Munster head to Scotstoun in Round 5 knowing that victory over Glasgow Warriors will be good enough to earn them a quarter-final spot as winners of Pool 1.
It had been the untimely death of Foley on the eve of this Round 1 fixture in October that forced the game to be re-arranged and Munster responded with a passion-packed performance that took them to the top of the pool, three points clear of Glasgow.
Racing fell to their fourth successive defeat in the pool - and their heaviest Champions Cup defeat.
Munster dominated the opening quarter and Tyler Bleyendaal hit a penalty for an early lead.
Simon Zebo crossed for the opening try, his 50th for Munster in all matches, and then man of the match CJ Stander raced almost 20 metres for the next one.
On the stroke of halftime, Lion in waiting Conor Murray clipped a grubber kick along the right-hand touchline that popped up perfectly for Andrew Conway as he ran in a third Munster try.
Bleyendaal took his firsthalf tally up to 10 points with a second conversion to add to his earlier two penalties and Munster were well on their way.
Midway through the second half, outstanding hooker Niall Scannell drove over from a five metre lineout for the bonus-point try which Bleyendaal again converted.
Munster continued to dominate proceedings, but there was a slight sting in the tail as Racing salvaged some pride with a try from back rower Mathieu Voisin which the quiet Dan Carter converted.
The two teams meet again in Round 6 at Thomond Park.