Munster produced a scintillating performance, scoring seven tries, to emerge 47-12 winners over Connacht at a sunny Thomond Park.

The opening 15 minutes saw Munster dominate possession and territory with Graham Rowntree’s side going close for an opening try on a few occasions but Connacht’s defence held firm.

Munster continued to keep the ball in hand and some excellent handling and footwork brought play up from the halfway line to 5m out. A bit of cynical play from Shamus Hurley-Langton saw the back-row receive a yellow card and Munster opted for the 5m tap and go.

RG Snyman carried hard and stretched out to ground the ball and after a TMO review the referee awarded the try with Crowley kicking the extras.

Munster scored their second try on 27 minutes when a scrum near the halfway line saw the ball go through the hands and pulled back to the onrushing Calvin Nash. The flying Limerick winger accelerated through a gap and ran all the way to the corner to dot down. Crowley’s touchline conversion sailed through the posts to put Munster 14-0 in front.

With the clock ticking towards the interval, Connacht responded when they sent the ball wide to Byron Ralston off a scrum in Munster’s 22. The pass from Jack Carty took out a number of Munster defenders as Ralston crossed for his side’s first try of the game. Carty added the extras to put seven points between the sides at the break.

On the resumption of the second half, Munster stretched their lead to 21-7 when Alex Nankivell picked up a ball from the base of a ruck and spotted a gap to sprint free from 65m to score. Crowley added the extras as Munster took back control of the game.

Munster secured the bonus-point at the midway point of the second-half when a pass out the back from Peter O’Mahony put Nankivell into space before the Kiwi popped the ball back in for Simon Zebo. Munster’s record try scorer turned on the pace before releasing Conor Murray who scored under the posts. Carbery added the extras as Munster’s lead stretched out to 28-7.

Connacht hit back with a second try from Ralston but despite this momentary setback, Graham Rowntree’s side dominated the remainder of the game which culminated in further tries from Joey Carbery, Tom Ahern and Shane Daly.

Antoine Frisch, who came on for Seán O’Brien early in the second half, produced a lovely offload to send Joey Carbery clear for his try which he converted before Tom Ahern caught an overthrown Connacht lineout and the Waterford man raced away to touch down in the corner with Carbery’s touchline conversion going narrowly wide.

With the match ticking closer to 80 minutes, Shane Daly crossed for a deserved try after another strong performance with Carbery converting to round off an excellent evening in Limerick.

BKT URC Round 16 Roundup

Alex Nankivell was awarded the BKT URC Player of the Match.

At the time of writing, Munster are up to second in the URC table.