LAST UPDATE | 29 Jan 2022
Zebre Parma 17
Munster 34
A MUCH-CHANGED MUNSTER team stretched the province’s current winning run to four games with a five-try bonus-point win over Zebre Parma, the visitors coming out on top of a scrappy encounter at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
Munster have been building some nice momentum in recent weeks, beating Ulster, Castres and Wasps as they look to get their season back on track following the disruption which followed their ill-fated trip to South Africa earlier this season.
And having progressed to the Champions Cup pool stages with an impressive defeat of Wasps last weekend, head coach Johann van Graan heavily rotated his team for this trip to Italy, those 11 changes perhaps leading to the sluggish start which Munster quickly overcame before taking control of this contest as the province made a winning start to a tricky of run of fixtures without their Ireland internationals.
Zebre came into the game with six defeats from six outings in the United Rugby Championship this season, and had an early chance to take the lead here, but Tim O’Malley saw his long-range penalty fall just short of the posts.
That was about the height of the action across a flat, laboured opening quarter as both sides struggled to find any rhythm.
Munster suffered some early disruption when they saw Jake Flannery – who was making his first start at out-half – depart with a blood injury with just nine minutes played. In came Jack Crowley, who slotted the penalty which handed Munster the lead shortly before the 20-minute mark.
That score appeared to settle Munster, and within minutes they had their first try of the game thanks to a well-executed move which saw John Hodnett break forward, before a smart Calvin Nash offload played in Liam Coombes, who in turn released Jack O’Donoghue for the flanker’s fifth try of the season.
Crowley was just wide with a difficult conversion effort and then departed the action as a bandaged-up Flannery came back in.
The young-out half then produced some quick footwork which almost created another scoring chance before Zebre regained possession, as the Italians struggled to get out of their own half with the visitors applying all the pressure and playing some smart, creative rugby.
Another Munster score was imminent, and it arrived via Dan Goggin on 28 minutes, the centre cutting through on a brilliant line off a smooth lineout and breaking a number of tackles to power over, with Flannery slotting the extras for his first points of the evening.
Flannery, wearing the 10 shirt following two strong performances by fellow out-halves Ben Healy and Jack Crowley in recent weeks, was looking sharp and comfortable in the driving seat, mixing up his approach and playing with tempo.
His clever kick shortly before half-time provided the platform for their third try, Fineen Wycherley dotting down from close range after Munster’s pack gained the hard yards following a well-executed lineout and maul.
With Munster cruising at 22-0 up, Flannery was then too loose with a pass that allowed Zebre centre Erich Cronjé intercept and race through for a try entirely against the run of play, O’Malley’s conversion pulling the score back to 22-7 at the break.
The hosts carried that momentum into the second period, and within minutes of the restart O’Malley brough Zebre to within 12 points with a close-range penalty.
While Munster would have hoped to build on their advantage after the break, they instead failed to produce any of the fluidity and cohesion on display in the opening period – an issue which also creeped up during the Wasps win.
A series of unforced errors allowed Zebre stay in the contest as the game became increasingly scrappy, substitute Antonio Rizzi seeing a penalty effort drop wide after Munster coughed up a scrum penalty just inside their half.
The hosts the turned to their power game, working the ball across the pitch following a strong lineout maul, with good defensive work from Chris Farrell and O’Donoghue initially keeping them at bay during a long period of Zebre possession, the province eventually winning the penalty after pushing Zebre further and further back up the pitch.
Van Graan’s side were making hard work of what had been a comfortable evening, and it increasingly felt like the next score would be crucial, with Munster failing to launch any meaningful attack across the first 20 minutes of the second half.
After surviving those waves of Zebre pressure they finally began to show some intent in their play, with Nash breaking down the left wing and Flannery trying to play to space, but it was the power of the Munster pack which eventually cut through, Josh Wycherley getting over after a series of pick-and-goes.
That bonus-point score pushed Munster 19 points clear with less than 15 minutes to play, and they began to add some width and tempo to an attack which had been struggling to ignite.
They soon had a fifth try, Diarmuid Barron crossing after the Munster maul bulldozed down the left wing, but Munster spend the final minutes under pressure again, with Junior Laloifi capitalising on a fortunate break of the ball to go over under the posts with the final play.
While this was nowhere near the complete performance Johann van Graan’s side have been searching for, the province did enough to make it four wins on the bounce without ever looking like losing this game.
Zebre scorers:
Tries: Cronjé, Laloifi
Conversions: O’Malley [1/1], Rizzi [1/1]
Penalties: O’Malley [1/2], Rizzi [0/1]
Munster scorers:
Tries: O’Donoghue, Goggin, F Wycherley, J Wycherley, Barron.
Conversions: Crowley [1/3], Flannery [2/2]
Penalties: Crowley [1/1]
Zebre Parma: Junior Laloifi; Pierre Bruno (Giulio Bisegni 66), Erich Cronjé, Enrico Lucchin, Jacopo Trulla; Timothy O’Malley (Antonio Rizzi, 50), Marcello Violi (Alessandro Fusco, 51); Paolo Buonfiglio (Andrea Lovotti, 62), Oliviero Fabiani (Massimo Ceciliani, 62), Eduardo Bello (Giosuè Zilocchi, 49); David Sisi (captain) Andrea Zambonin (Leonard Krumov, 49); Liam Mitchell, Iacopo Bianchi, Renato Giammarioli (Potu Junior Leavasa 74).
Munster: Matt Gallagher; Calvin Nash, Liam Coombes, Dan Goggin (Chris Farrell, 49), Shane Daly; Jake Flannery (Jack Crowley, 9-22, 72), Neil Cronin (Ethan Coughlan 70); Jeremy Loughman (Josh Wycherley, 55), Diarmuid Barron, Keynan Knox (Roman Salanoa, 55); Jean Kleyn (Thomas Ahern, 66 (Scott Buckley 70)), Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (captain), John Hodnett (Alex Kendellen, 66), Jack O’Sullivan.
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella, and Gavan Casey glance ahead to the Six Nations, chat about the Irish provinces’ progress in Europe, then discuss the latest off-the-pitch drama in Welsh rugby.
