Munster The Masters in Musgrave Park.

Six tries, four in the opening half and another flawless kicking display from the Toyota Man of the Match, Paul Burke, helped Munster to an impressive 45-8 victory over The Borders.

Six tries, four in the opening half and another flawless kicking display from the Toyota Man of the Match, Paul Burke, helped Munster to a 45-8 victory over The Borders at Musgrave Park. It was an impressive display that saw the home side lead 31-3 at the interval after Shaun Payne, Tom Bowman, Stephen Keogh and Trevor Hogan had run in tries. Burke converted each and added a penalty and besides that, his all-round contribution played a significant part in this latest win.

Payne opened the scoring in the 2nd minute when he took a delightful line to take a pass from Burke for a try that originated from an Alan Quinlan steal on the Borders 22.

Bowman was the next to score and this time Burke landed the conversion from wide on the left and then Stephen Keogh showed good skill to slip through close to the right hand post.

The bonus point try came from Trevor Hogan just before the break and in the second half after Munster had absorbed a deal of pressure, Rob Henderson capped a fine performance with the fifth try.

Borders centre Charlie Hoare scored a consolation try but within minutes of coming on as a replacement for Mossie Lawlor, Intrernational Sevens player, Martin McPhail took a neat pass from Mike Mullins to score the final try.

Munster: Shaun Payne; Mossy Lawler (Martin McPhail), Mike Mullins, Rob Henderson (Jason Holland), Paul Devlin; Paul Burke, Eoin Reddan (Mike Prendergast); Frank Roche, James Blaney (Denis Fogarty), Gordon McIlwham (Mike Storey); Trevor Hogan (Tom Hayes), Tom Bowman; Stephen Keogh, Alan Quinlan, Jim Williams(Johnny O’Connor).