Dominant Munster claim victory at Thomond Park

Rob LloydNews

Munster produced a dominant performance at Thomond Park, starving the Scarlets of possession and territory, to emerge 29-8 winners in the battle of two BKT United Rugby Championship play-off rivals.

For Dwayne Peel’s side, it was a backs-to-the-wall effort for most of the game, with the West Walians unable to prise themselves away from the firm grip of the Munstermen.

Munster enjoyed an incredible 75 percent of the ball, with 84 percent of the game spent in the Scarlets half.

The visitors’ ill-discupline and handling errors didn’t help their cause and they were often left to rely on another stubborn rearguard to hold out against relentless Munster pressure.

A brilliant solo score from replacement Macs Page was the attacking highlight, but this was a tough night for the Scarlets.

Ioan Lloyd was wide with a third minute penalty following a turnover penalty by Dan Davis, then Munster thought they had scored through Ireland squad member Tom Ahern, only for the try to be chalked off for a knock-on.

Camped in their own territory for much of the half, Scarlets had to rely on a resilient defensive effort, particularly after centre Joe Roberts was shown yellow for a deliberate knock-on.

Lloyd made no mistake with a penalty to get the scoreboard shifting on 18 minutes, but eventually Munster’s pressure game paid with the opening try.

A slick training move off an attacking line-out opened up the Scarlets defence and it was replacement wing Shay McCarthy who finished off. Fly-half Billy Burns converted.

Enjoying all the ball, Munster continued to press, but the West Walians managed to keep the home side out to go in at half-time just four points adrift.

The same narrative continued after the break, poor Scarlets discipline and Munster pressure and the home side were over for their second try just four minutes after the restart thanks to a trademark close-range effort from player of the match, No. 8 Gavin Coombes.

Waves after wave of Munster attack led to a third try on 51 minutes through flanker Alex Kendellen, with Burns’s touchline conversion making it 19-3.

There was something for the travelling Scarlets fans to cheer about when replacement Page produced one of his wonder tries just before the hour mark.

With his first touch of the ball, the youngster, playing on the right wing, took a superb off-load from Ellis Mee 60 metres out, swerved outside his defender, raced clear, chipped the full-back before gathering the bouncing ball and touching down.

There was an excruciating wait for the TMO and officials to make a call on the grounding, but the referee’s on-field decision stood, as did the try.  Lloyd was wide with the extras.

That was as good as it got for the visitors.

Coombes dabbed down for his second, then in the final minute Munster wing Shane Daly was yellow carded for a high challenge on Roberts. It mattered little to the outcome and it was Munster and Tom Farrell who had the final word, with the centre diving over in the corner to complete the win.

Scorers

Munster – tries: S. McCarthy, G. Coombes (2), A. Kendellen, T. Farrell. cons: B. Burns (2)

Scarlets – try: M. Page. pen: I. Lloyd

Scarlets 

Ioan Nicholas (repl Macs Page 56); Ellis Mee, Joe Roberts, Johnny Williams, Steff Evans (repl Charlie Titcombe 73); Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies (capt; repl Archie Hughes 66); Kemsley Mathias (repl A. Hepburn 46), Marnus van der Merwe (repl Ryan Elias 56), Archer Holz (repl Sam Wainwright 11), Max Douglas, Sam Lousi, Taine Plumtree (repl Alex Craig 53), Dan Davis (repl Jarrod Taylor 61), Vaea Fifita.

Attendance: 13, 714