Perseverance and patience paid off with Munster securing the try bonus point in the final play of the game and they come away from the Guinness PRO14 round 9 encounter in Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi with maximum points.

Fineen Wycherley, Kevin O’Byrne, Ronan O’Mahony and Rory Scannell all scored tries with Bill Johnston kicking seven and Scannell five points from the tee.

There was a welcome return from injury for a number of players with Ronan O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Chris Farrell and Conor Oliver all featuring for the first time this season.

There was a forced reshuffle before kick-off with JJ Hanrahan withdrawing from the warm-up due to illness. Bill Johnston made his second successive start at 10 with Jaco Taute named in the replacements.

A heavy pitch dictated matters with handling errors coming from both sides however the men in red managed the conditions well and produced an impressive defensive display for over 60 minutes, absorbing the host’s attacking spells and keeping them scoreless.

In the opening quarter Arno Botha and Wycherley produced go-forward ball with strong carries and it was Wycherley that went over for the first try when he powered his way to the base of the post on 15 minutes. Johnston added the straight forward conversion.

The Munster pressure was rewarded further when man of the match O’Byrne added the second try on the half hour mark. Johnston landed the superb touchline conversion to extend the lead to 14 points and the young 10 was up again just before the break adding a long-range penalty to give a 0-17 scoreline at half-time.

The defence held firm until the 63rd minute when back-row replacement Renato Giammarioli powered over to register the hosts first points of the game, with Francois Brummer kicking the conversion.

With Zebre coughing up a penalty minutes later inside their own half Scannell took over kicking duties and extended the lead to 13 points moving into the final ten minutes.

The clock was winding down but Munster continued to rally for try scoring opportunities and it was the kick-chase and some quick reaction from Ronan O’Mahony that produced the third try as we entered the final minutes. Scannell added the conversion.

Ending on a high the province were in for the bonus point try in the final minute with Scannell dotting down in the corner.

Munster: Mike Haley; Ronan O’Mahony; Rory Scannell, Tyler Bleyendaal (C); Alex Wootton (Jaco Taute 72); Bill Johnston (Chris Farrell 50) , Neil Cronin (Conor Murray 50); Jeremy Loughman (Brian Scott 69), Kevin O’Byrne (Mike Sherry 69), Stephen Archer (Ciaran Parker blood 54; 75); Fineen Wycherley, Darren O’Shea (Sean O’Connor 64); Gavin Coombes, Chris Cloete (Conor Oliver 58), Arno Botha.

Guinness PRO14 Round 9 Round-Up

Jeremy Loughman and Gavin Coombes made their first Guinness PRO14 starts for the province.

Kevin O’Byrne was awarded the man of the match for the second game in a row.

The win sees the province hold on to second place in Conference A of the Guinness PRO14.

Next Home Game

Guinness PRO14: Munster v Edinburgh, Irish Independent Park, Friday November 30th, kick off 7.35pm

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