Munster 14
Treviso 3
MUNSTER BEAT TREVISO 14-3 in the RaboDirect PRO12 at Thomond Park this evening, in what a less-than-spectacular encounter.
It was unconvincing display from Rob Penney’s men, who were somewhat fortunate to be leading 7-3 at half-time.
Matt Berquist kicked the visitors three points ahead after two minutes, before JJ Hanraran passed up two opportunities to respond with penalties of his own.
Keith Earls eventually put the hosts on the scoreboard on 36 minutes, after his try was adjudged to be legitimate following consultation with the TMO. Hanrahan then added the conversion to give his team a four-point advantage at the break.
The second half continued in a similar fashion, with Munster struggling to break their defensively stubborn opponents down.
(Munster’s Paul O’Connell Tommy O’Donnell and Conor Murray with the RBS 6 Nations trophy)
They did get some joy however on 55 minutes, as James Downey dived over for the Irish side’s second try of the game, with Hanrahan again making no mistake with the conversion, in the process capitalising on a man advantage, after Treviso’s Giovanni Maistri had been sent to the sin bin early in the second half.
The game petered out from there, with Munster struggling to establish any rhythm following a series of changes, amid one of the less memorable spectacles Thomond Park has witnessed in recent times.
Munster: Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Casey Laulala (Simon Zebo), James Downey, Johne Murphy; JJ Hanrahan (Ian Keatley), Duncan Williams (Gerry Hurley); James Cronin (Dave Kilcoyne), Damien Varley (Quentin MacDonald), John Ryan (Stephen Archer); Billy Holland (Donncha O’Callaghan), Dave Foley; Donnacha Ryan, Sean Dougall (CJ Stander), Paddy Butler.
I’ll say it: JJ Hanrahan had a shocker
He did, thought he was poor tonight. … kicked a lot of ball away…
He was poor. But then I guess at 21 hes allowed the odd bad game. He did also have a hand in both tries.
Leighton Hodges is not up to this standard, he is inconsistent, misses a lot of sceptical defending and is whistle mad, the gap between top test referees and league refs is enormous!
Ref was terrible!
That ref was rubbish… how he didn’t give a penalty try under the posts was amazing – 5 pens in a row – bizarre…plus they were offside all day but he didn’t ping them any time…. so many resets at scrum time – everything was so slow & he should have fixed that to speed up the game… Miserable night, just home, still frozen….. on plus side, I thought Earls, Donncha Ryan & Jones looked sharp… & at least we won…
I have to agree when I saw him on halfway before kick off I knew we were in for a mess of a game.
It’s always the ref. When yer steamrolled next weekend it’ll be the ref again. Ha!
Archer was rubbish tonight (again), kept popping up and seemed harsh by the ref to send off the Treviso hooker in that period.
It will be all you have to play for after you boys are steamrolled against the Champions in the Heineken Cup.
Rob… you dont know what youre talking about do you? Munster are playing Leinster in the Rabo. Dufus.
Cian, let me spell it out for you. The Rabo will be Leinsters only chance of silverware this year after the champions ( that’s Toulon ) do a job on them in the Heineken Cup. Therefore next week is much bigger for the D4 brigade than it is for Munster.
Rod have you any Idea how silly a Munster fan going on about Leinster only chance of winning silverware is, since we won 3 Heineken cups, one rabbo and an Amlin cup what silverware have your lot won?
Would I be right in saying the only Munster players with a Heineken cup medal are PoC and doc? Oh sorry Andrew Conway had one as well.
Win something and then we’ll take you seriously when you go on about silverware
D4 lol obviously knows nothing about rugby in Leinster as its played in twelve counties, in Munster the game is only played in six schools and two cities
Anyway both teams looked very rusty last night so it should be hell for leather on Sat really looking forward to it and it’s a fifty/fifty game as they all tend to be
Hanrahan’s past to Earls was so forward the NFL we’re proud of it.
Was it not Williams that made the pass? But yeah it did look forward, thought the TMO was going to give it but Hodges stepped in before he could. Funny how For the second try Hodges wasn’t willing to be so decisive and left it to the TMO who seemed to want to pass the buck for that one.
I pity anyone who paid into that rubbish, hodges is an absolute disgrace to have given that first try what was he looking at!
I thought the Munster scrum half had a fantastic game today – just a pity he is playing the best rugby of his life for Bath in their fantastic away win, clocking up 40 plus points v London Irish.
#BringBackStringer
Select players out of position and persist with players obviously not playing well? Tick!
Play awful to lull Leinster and Toulouse into a false sense of security? Tick!
Coach reinforces awful performance by saying he’s “pleased with the result”? Tick!
Perfect night’s work! ;-D
Annoying twa t tick
Little old Munster against the six nations champions next week. I only hope we can hold our own.
Martin, they hadn’t played for weeks. And their performances have certainly been less patchier than before.
O’Connell, O’Mahony, Murray, O’Donnell, Botha they’ll be back.
I certainly believe they’ll give Leinster a game next week.
“Sarcasm” look it up.
I know what it is Martin, and with all due respect, the way you expressed it wasn’t convincing.
Martin was referring to Penney’s post match comments, which were a little risque.
Rob Penney “The Munster boys playing the Six Nations champs” can’t wait for next week!! #leinsterrugby #munsterrugby http://t.co/jHYrrdIGS5
You say risqué I say calling it as it is. There’ll be a lot of Munster lads pissed off that so many inferior Leinster players now have a six nations medal hanging around there necks.
Tbf, Munster have a decent record against touring international sides, should stand to them next week’s ;-)
I don’t know. We’ve beaten The Aussies and the kiwis but these Leinster lads are something special. I just don’t know ;-)
Martin inferior to who?
Those six nations medals go nicely along side Heineken cup medals, a rabbo medal and an Amlin winners medal.
Maybe if the Munster lads were a bit more flexible in the way they play the game then there would be more of them in the Ireland squad.
When Penney came in he wanted to play a more expansive game and there was a lot of resistance.
Now they have run him out of town despite him being successful.
Crazy situation because the foundation was built with Penney and now they have to start again. Waste of 2 years IMO.
They should have offered Penney a decent contract and not insulted the guy.
Oran. That is horse manure plain and simple. Factually incorrect.
Ok you want names? Here’s a few. Jack Mc Garth, Sean Cronin, martin Moore, (Eoin Reddan never gets used so why bother with him) and even the so called great Heaslip he hasn’t been near the standard in green that he is in blue. There are better options than all of the above. I’d also question Jordi Murphy being next nor near the Irish squad. And by the way they might play for Leinster but there aren’t many medals between that lot.
Well said Cian.
Typical response, does not surprise me.
Would you care to enlighten us as to how this is factually incorrect?
It is factually incorrect that Penney was run out the door.
1.He and Munster had an optional year to run, Penney chose not to take it. Munster wanted him to stay. Fact.
2. The IRFU only allowed us to offer him the extension. Fact.
3. The same deal was offered to Anscombe and he took it. Fact.
4. Penney was offered a high paying gig in Japan. He chose to accept that. Fact.
How exactly did Munster “run him out”?
To offer the guy a 1 year contract extension says that we are not really sure about you but we will give you another year to see what you can do.
It’s not exactly a vote of confidence and for someone like Penney who lives in a different hemisphere it does not really give him ( and his family) much stability for the next phase of his life.
He was right to look elsewhere as a 1 year extension was a joke!
Did you read point 2 Oran? Just admit you were wrong in claiming Munster ran him out!!
Yes and as stated that’s what the IRFU allowed Munster to offer the man he wasn’t run out of no where by Munster it was the IRFU who dictated it.
Ok fair enough. Run out of town was a bad choice of words.
But the point is still valid.
They should have nailed him down for 2 or 3 seasons.
A 1 year contract extension is a vote of no confidence IMO.
For the love of God man. Munster wanted him to stay. That is a vote of confidence. Irfu didn’t allow us to offer him a 2 or 3 year deal. Can I point out AGAIN that Anscombe accepted the same offer. Were ulster disrespectful to him too?
Well that is good to know because I had not read that.
Glad that you have shared it and are happy to have a discussion about it……rather that talking about horse manure ;)
WHOEVER offered him a 1 year contract insulted the man!
Feels like he was only keeping the chair warm for Foley to take over.
I bet Foley had no issues in getting a decent contract?
I dunno, hes getting less moolah than Penney was.
Not that many medals? Heaslip alone would have nearly as medals as the whole Munster squad put together. All those players you named are far ahead of anything Munster have.
Redden v Williams
Moore v archer
McGrath v killer and Cronin
The Leinster player wins ever time.
Funny thing is Paulie’s not getting any younger and Henderson is chomping at the bit, ferris and sob will be back and Marmion is getting better week by week. We could be looking at a six nations / World Cup team without any Munster players at all.
Mc Grath is better than Killer.
Cronin is better than whoever.
Moore is better than Archer.
I think Tommy O Donnell is a better 7 than Jordi Murphy.
But Murphy covers 8 as well so that might have swayed it.
If you look outside of Ireland ( for an unbiased opinion) then more than 1 analyst who picked 6 nations teams of the tournament had Heaslip at 8.
I suppose u would rather see Duncan Williams instead of Reddan?
So your argument does not carry a lot of weight.
I bet you weren’t complaining in 2008 when the whole Irish pack and the halfbacks were from Munster?
Oran, as a Munsterman, in the wise words of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer,” I couldn’t care.”
Meaning that even if Munster don’t get a single player into the Irish squad for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t matter. In fact, that’ll make teams weaker and Munster stronger.
Penny’s interview was the most entertaining feature of this game. The big kiwi pup :-D
The 2nd try was inconclusive at best and should not have been awarded. Arm was under the ball and grounding not established. 1st try was forward no question.
Terrible performance all round by Munster.
They should be better than that with the quality of players they had out there tonight.
Berquist was awful for Treviso.
I’m not a Leinster or Munster man but going by last night’s game, if Munster play like that in Dublin next week they’ll be beaten by 20pts. Their ability to muck up try-scoring opportunities, to knock-on and to eschew logical offloads is enraging to watch.
Awful game,
Blatant fwd pass for Earls try.Both the ref and TMO really need some specialist care for awarding that try. The pass was so far forward it made the French fwd pass in Paris last week look legitimate. Dreadful.
The match was a disappointment, if I’m honest. Every Munster attack and the ball just falls out of hands at the last second. And I certainly think the second try should have been disallowed and instead for a 22 drop out, because Downey’s left hand barely touches the line before the ball rolls over the try-line. But to have an Irishman as TMO, I think there’s a bit of injustice at work here.
But it is truly annoying when the conditions play a part in this,
That being said, I think Williams (who for some reason everyone has been scrutinizing) did reasonably well tonight. What are your thoughts?
I thought Williams had a very good game passing was very accurate all night, credit where it’s due! Match itself was complete dog sh1t! All we got out of that was a run out for few long term injured.
Conor, I thought the second try was more credible than the first. Williams played fair enough but not the standard of player required for Munster. Poor JJ had a couple of shocking misses and a couple of class conversions, it was a real mixed bag of a game tonight, not helped by the second half weather. Leinster’s game last night wasn’t much better, hope they are both saving something for next week.
Oh believe me, Elizabeth, they’ll be much better next week. :) First game back since in between the Six Nations, there’ll be more cohesion next week.
You must be joking how many times did he try to go on his own and get caught
What a loss Sheridan is.
How many times does any scrum half go it alone and get caught? The majority of times is the answer! Murray care weepu redden they all get collared 9 times out of 10, the one time they get through they are hailed as genius. He unlocked their defence with the pass to Murphy but Murphy was tackled early and held up. Be fair to the man he played well all round!
Munster were painful to watch last night. Every time Williams passed out of a ruck the ball went wide. Munster’s ruck ball was too slow to throw the ball out and as a result, they were consistently caught behind the gainline. The frustrating thing was that Munster couldn’t see it. Only O’Callaghan’s grubber in the final minutes gave Munster some go forward. Looking to play with width and ambition is admirable but a team must be on the front foot to do so. I hope that Munster rectify that by next week.
While the referee was both indecisive and inconsistent, Munster cannot blame him for their poor performance. They had the lion’s share of possession and simply were not effective enough with it. They will need to vary their play between attacking tight and wide for the Leinster game. Murray will be hopefully be the man who will improve Munster’s game management.
Thought Munster were great tonight. They frustrated Treviso and I’m sure if Joe Scmidt was watching he’ll have noted some players to add to his next training squad :))))))
The sooner penny goes the better for Munster, and the need to get Munster back to playing proper rugby. A big clean up of playing staff required. To this end they need to have a proper academy and build. Munster fans have got to get real because a player wears the shirt it does not make him a international player. POC CM and O’Mahoney deserve better .
After 6 weeks of Leinster fans crying out for harmony and asking the Munster fans to support Leinster in the 6N how quick they are to revert back to normal.
Munster were not great last night for sure, that ref is as bad as that young fellah from the north. Why not just give a penalty try and keep the game 15 v 15 and just get on with it ?
No mention of the torrential rain which surely affected things either?
He was asked to give a penalty try and his answer was “he can’t as the scrum wasn’t going forward but if they keep giving away penalties they win keep going to the bin.”
What happened next is archer in his wisdom tried to fool the ref and gave away the penalty himself.
Oh Oh what a referee. Too many scrums badly on an awful night, it was painful to watch, I wish I could understand what the commentators were saying. Time for subtitles.
Who would u have instead of Martin Moore Michael? Stephen Archer ? What about Sean Cronin?