Munster secured a bonus-point win over Zebre at Thomond Park in the Guinness PRO14 on Saturday night thanks to a strong second-half comeback.

Jeremy Loughman, Rhys Marshall, Darren Sweetnam, Niall Scannell and Mike Haley all touched down as Munster managed to navigate a tricky fixture against a fired-up Zebre side.

Captain CJ Stander was awarded Man of the Match with Jack O’Donoghue very impressive on his first start since recovering from a serious knee injury.

The victory keeps Munster in second place of Conference A, three points behind Glasgow Warriors with three games remaining.

Zebre were the better side in the first half and led 12-5 at the interval.

Jamie Elliot touched down for the Italians in the left corner after eight minutes to cap off a very strong start by the visitors with slick handling creating an overlap.

Zebre led 12-0 after 18 minutes with Roberto Tenga scoring after Haley spilled Carlo Canna’s grubber kick in behind the Munster defence with Canna also adding the conversion.

Munster regrouped and scored a vital try just before the break as Loughman scored off the back of a strong rolling maul to get Munster off the mark and back in the game at 12-5.

A dominant scrum, with the set-piece solid throughout, earned Munster the penalty with an excellent Hanrahan kick bringing Munster to within five metres. The pack did the rest as Loughman scored his first try for the province with Hanrahan unlucky to see his conversion come back off the post.

Munster were much improved after the break with the replacements making a very positive impact.

The hosts were level 12 minutes after the interval through Marshall after another excellent lineout maul as replacement Tyler Bleyendaal nailed the touchline conversion to level matters at 12-all.

Munster were then fortunate to see a Zebre penalty come back off the post and with Chris Cloete sent to the sin bin, the game was very much in the balance with just over 20 minutes remaining.

The hosts, crucially, scored the next try to steady the ship as Sweetnam finished well in the corner after quick hands from Haley and although Bleyendaal was unlucky to see his conversion drift just wide, Munster had the lead for the first time.

Replacement Niall Scannell was over for the all-important bonus-point try to secure all five points after 68 minutes following another well-executed lineout maul.

Haley rounded off the hard-fought victory with Munster’s fifth try late on after a lovely Rory Scannell pass sent the full-back through a gap in the Zebre defence.

Next up for Munster is the Champions Cup quarter-final against Edinburgh in Murrayfield next Saturday (12.45pm).

Guinness PRO14 Round 18 Round-Up

Jeremy Loughman scored his first try for Munster in the clash.

Jack O’Donoghue made his first start since recovering from a serious knee injury.

Tyler Bleyendaal made his 50th appearance for the province as a replacement.

Captain CJ Stander was awarded Man of the Match

Munster: Mike Haley; Darren Sweetnam, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton (Chris Farrell, 44); JJ Hanrahan (Tyler Bleyendaal, 51), Alby Mathewson (Duncan Williams, 76); Jeremy Loughman (Liam O’Connor, 70), Rhys Marshall (Niall Scannell, 53), Stephen Archer (John Ryan, 53); Fineen Wycherley, Darren O’Shea (Jean Kleyn, 53); Jack O’Donoghue, Chris Cloete (Arno Botha, 67), CJ Stander (C).