Too easy for Munster as Tigers stir late
MUNSTER were too strong and efficient for an uninspired Tigers at Thomond Park as they moved without alarm to an impressive and ominous win. There is much more to come from Peter O’Mahony’s team.
Leicester, of course, are one of the few teams to win at Munster in the European Cup but they also suffered a 38-0 humbling at Thomond last season and that thrashing seemed to prey on their minds.
They made a decent enough start threatening through Tulusa Veainu but the Tongan’s grubber was read by Andrew Conway who got Munster on the front foot with a storming run upfield. Munster laid siege to win a penalty which Ian Keatley stroked over.
Defences were tight and with the pitch a little slipper after earlier sleet both persisted with the grubber tactics for a while. Having seen that fail, Leicester decided to start trying to punch up through their backrow runners, the beefy Tongan duo of Tino Mapapalangi and Sione Kalafamoni
For a while it gave Munster something to think about but Munster replied with a passage of hard direct running which resulted in Conor Murray finding hooker Rhys Marshall with a decisive pass although the Kiwi did have to reach back to drag it in. Marshall brushed past a poor attempted tackle by Tom Youngs and dobbed down for Keatley to add the extras.
A thoroughly satisfactory Munster start got even better when Keatley landed a beautifully struck 45m penalty after Dan Cole had been penalised at a particularly hectic ruck.
Munster were on fire and struck again on the halfhour when they again surged forward through their big runners before Keatley looked up, noticed Veainu out of position and dinked a ball straight into space in front of the posts. Simon Zebo had read the play perfectly and waltzed in for a deceptively easy try that owed everything to Munster’s vision and quick decision making.
At 20-0 down Tigers had to score next and as halftime approached they did at least open their account with a simple penalty from George Ford after Munster had illegally closed down a promising attack. There was still time though for Munster to reply in kind with another Keatley penalty after Tom Youngs had been penalised for a neck roll. The replays suggested the Leicester hooker might have been a tad lucky to avoid ten minutes in the bin
Munster nearly put the game totally beyond Tigers’ reach in the second minute after the break when giant lock Jean Kleyn reached for the touchdown but Leicester’s scrambled defence saved them.
Nasty injuries to Veainu and Conway after a clash of heads caused a long delay but after the restart there was another let-off for Tigers when David Kilcoyne got white line fever and ignored an overlap.
Munster got the scoreboard moving again as Zebo skinned Dan Cole in a mismatch and passed to Darren Sweetenam who sent O’Mahony in at the corner
Leicester did finally stir themselves at a line-out five metres out when Harry Thacker, just on for Youngs rumbled over.
The relief was temporary with Munster securing their bonus point moments later when Klute was rumbled over. It was all way too easy; it will need to be harder at Welford Road.