MURRAY BACK TO BOOST RED HOT LEADERS

MUNSTER will play Ospreys in the Pro12 semifinal after they battered Connacht to end the season as the Pro12’s top team – and Conor Murray made a successful comeback. A seven-try rout of the defending champions was the perfect way to finish the campaign for Rassie Erasmus’ side as they made the most of their visitors’ charitable defensive work. Andrew Conway ran in two tries – including a stunning one handed score in the corner – but Murray’s successful return was the real highlight. “Yeah it’s great. He looked solid out there. I am so glad he came through the week and we all thought this would have happened five or six weeks ago,” said Erasmus. “We didn’t jeopardise his career; we didn’t take unnecessary risks and this was the time to bring him back.” Despite a bright start from Connacht, Munster soon gained the upper hand as Keith Earls and the outstanding Jack O’donoghue ran in tries before the half-hour mark. Conway’s brilliant first was scored before the interval, while James Cronin, Conway and Francis Saili also added three more after the break.

Connacht coach Pat Lam will have some tough viewing after this as his side have now conceded 26 tries in their last six games. He admitted it was far from acceptable.

“We came in at halftime and showed some clips from last week,” said Lam. “It was the same thing we had last week and something that we’d worked on this week. But unfortunately again, we made mistakes there and we made them look good. But you have to give credit to Munster.”

Connacht did save some face in the second-half thanks to tries from Cian Kelleher and Naulia Dawai, but they have huge improvements to make before they travel to Northampton or Gloucester in the Champions Cup play-off.

Ian Keatley only spoiled a perfect game when his touchline conversion drifted wide at the death.

“They are reigning Pro12 champions. But I guess we have to move on as quickly as possible to start focusing on that semifinal,” added Erasmus. MUNSTER:

CONNACHT: