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AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: Munster v Treviso

We went minute-by-minute as Munster took on Treviso in the last of the evening’s games.

Send us your thoughts and comments on this evening’s action. E-mail  paul@thescore.ie, tweet us@thescore_iefind us on Facebook, or leave a comment below.

Munster 29-11 Treviso (FT)

Welcome to our live coverage of Munster’s game with Treviso. We’re underway…

Here are your teams:

Munster: Denis Hurley; J Murphy, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, D Varley, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell capt; P O’Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan.

Replacements: D Fogarty, M Horan, S Archer, Donncha O’Callaghan, B Holland, T O’Leary, I Keatley, D Barnes.

Treviso: L McLean, L Nitoglia, T Benvenuti, A Sgarbi, B Williams, K Burton, T Botes, M Rizzo, F Sbaraglini, L Cittadini, A Pavanello (capt), C Van Zyl, Gonzalo Padro, A Zanni, M Vosawai.

Replacements: D Vidal, M Muccignat, I Fernandez Rouyet, V Bernabo, E Pavanello, S Picone, E Gori, A Di Bernardo

Treviso have recovered well after a shaky start – they hit the kick off straight into the touch.

Not for the first time, the opposition seem to be targeting Ronan O’Gara, given his less-than-intimidating physique.

3-0 TO TREVISO! Burton makes no mistake with a penalty from distance. Good start from the Italians.

Treviso are putting in a dogged performance and frustrating Munster at the moment. The closest they’ve come was a disallowed O’Gara try following a forward pass from Murray.

Incredibly, having defended so well and regained possession on their 22, Treviso immediately hand Munster back the initiative by knocking-on.

MUNSTER 3-3 TREVISO: O’Gara slots over the simplest of penalties. That’s more like it from McGahan’s men.

Some nice rugby with Mafi and Earls linking well, before Murphy is tackled out of play. Munster are knocking on the door at the moment.

TRY FOR MUNSTER!

10-3 TO MUNSTER: Niall Ronan charges over the line after collecting a beautiful offload from Mafi. However, he receives treatment having pulled up, as O’Gara gets the conversion.

An absolutely thundering tackle from Earls, who hits Williams just as he catches an O’Gara kick. That looked painful (from Willliams’ perspective).

O’Gara misses his first penalty of the evening. He’ll be disappointed as, even though it was from a tricky angle, it’s a relatively light wind out there (or so I’m reliably informed anyway).

Niall Ronan unfortunately has to leave the action after picking up a suspected knee injury while scoring his try. He’s replaced by Donncha O’Callaghan.

10-6: It’s 2 from 2 for Burton, who brings Treviso to within four points of Munster with an excellently-taken penalty.

(Mafi attempts to evade McLean’s tackle – INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

HALF TIME: MUNSTER 10-6 TREVISO

Having dominated for large periods of that first half without scoring, Munster will perhaps go in at the break a tad relieved: Treviso could easily have scored a try if they spread the ball to the wings quicker in the last action of the half, and hit the post with the subsequent penalty that they were awarded.

The second half is underway…

Apparently Niall Ronan’s injury isn’t too bad and he was taking off purely as a precautionary measure.

Treviso are continuing to frustrate Munster in this second half. Is there potential for a second Italian victory over an Irish side today?

“I’m the referee, not you,” Nigel Owens condescendingly tells Botes, followed by a “this is not soccer” warning. Harsh.

TRY FOR MUNSTER!

17-6: Earls goes passed Burton as if he wasn’t there, before running in under the posts. O’Gara converts. It’ll surely take miracle for Treviso to launch a comeback now.

TRY FOR TREVISO!

17-11: Deary me, commentators curse. Treviso score a try as Vosawai bundles over the line amid a plethora of bodies. Burton misses the conversion. Game on.

(Mafi is tackled by Sgarbi – INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

Much like Leinster earlier today, Munster are doing just about enough to win this game, but are performing in a less than spectacular manner.

Very close! Murray dives towards the line, but the video ref deems it “inconclusive” as to whether he crossed over or not.

TRY FOR MUNSTER!

24-11: This time the referee awards the try as Coughlan just about places it over the white line. O’Gara converts. This time, I think it really is safe to say that Munster have the game won.

Munster will now focus on securing the bonus point. They won’t succeed however, if they continually concede possession as easily as they have just there, with Coughlan clumsily failing to hold a pass.

By the way, in case anyone’s wondering, the Scarlets beat Glasgow 16-14 in the other RaboDirect Pro12 game played today.

TRY FOR MUNSTER!

29-11: And they get the bonus point. Keatley (just on for O’Gara) passes to Zebo, who shows impressive strength to shrug off his marker and dive over for the try. Keatley, with his second act of the game, misses the conversion.

Try scorer James Coughlan gets a well-deserved man-of-the-match award.

FULL TIME: MUNSTER 29-11 TREVISO

It may not have been the best performance they’ve ever produced, but they got there in the end, and secured the bonus point to boot. Job done.

Right, that’s a wrap as far as I’m concerned. Thanks for reading and commenting as always. Following three consecutive liveblogs, I’m off for a much-needed lie down.

Read: As it happened: Cardiff Blues v Leinster>

Read: As it happened: Aironi v Connacht>

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