Munster 58

Ospreys 3

John Fallon reports from Thomond Park

GAVIN COOMBES ran in a superb hat-trick as Munster put Ospreys to the sword with a nine-tries-to-nil hammering in front of 14,082 at Thomond Park.

The brilliant centre partnership of Antoine Frisch and Malakai Fekitoa laid the foundation for the rampage.

They had the bonus point in the bag by the break when they led by 27-3 after Ospreys started well with a Stephen Myler penalty, which led to a yellow card for Shane Daly after three minutes.

Carbery tied the match with a penalty after the centres had combined with skipper Jack O’Donoghue before an inside pass from lock Jean Kleyn put Gavin Coombes through to score. Carbery converted to lead 10-3 after 15 minutes.

Ospreys lost Bradley Davies to the bin in the build-up with the lock fortunate to escape with just a yellow card for a high tackle on prop Roman Salanoa.

Munster made the extra man count four minutes later when Carbey and Frisch combined to send Fekitoa through for his first Munster try in 12 games at the end of a week where it was announced that the former New Zealand World Cup winner is going to depart in the summer, halfway into a two-year contract.

Fekitoa turned provider for Munster’s third try, putting his centre partner Frisch in for his second try for the province in a dozen appearances.

The bonus point came three minutes from the break when Fekitoa fed Carbery and he cut an excellent line to score a try for the second game in a row before adding the extras.

Munster crossed for their fifth inside a minute of the restart when scrum-half Paddy Patterson exchanged passes in the left corner with John Hodnett before racing in to score.

Munster continued to dominate as both sides emptied their benches and Munster’s all-time top try scorer Simon Zebo took his haul to 71 in 162 appearances when he swapped wings to score in the left corner.

Full-back Daly put him through for that score before he himself touched down for their eighth try 11 minutes from time after a neat move from a lineout, with Carbery’s conversion taking them past the half-century as they cantered home with Coombes completing his hat-trick in the dying moments when he notched his 32nd try in 65 games for the province.

Scorers: Munster: Tries: G Coombes (3), Fekitoa, Frisch, Carbery, Patterson, Zebo, Daly. Cons: Carbery (5 from 9). Pen: Carbery (1 from 1).

Ospreys: Pen: Myler (1 from 1).

Munster: Shane Daly, Liam Coombes (Ben Healy ’52), Antoine Frisch (Rory Scannell ’59), Malakai Fekitoa, Simon Zebo, Joey Carbery, Paddy Patterson (Ethan Coughlan ’50), Josh Wycherley (Mark Donnelly ’68), Niall Scannell (Diarmuid Barron ’56), Roman Salanoa (Stephen Archer ’64); Jean Kleyn (Alex Kendellen ’56), Fineen Wycherley, Jack O’Donoghue (capt) (Jack O’Sullivan ’30), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Ospreys: Max Nagy, Luke Morgan, Michael Collins (Iestyn Hopkins ’38), Owen Watkin, Keelan Giles (Jack Walsh ’68), Stephen Myler, Reuben Morgan-Williams (Matthew Aubrey ’68), Nicky Smith (capt) (Garyn Phillips ’60), Elvis Taione (Tom Cowan-Dickie ’60), Tom Botha (Rhys Henry ’52), Bradley Davies (James Fender ’68), Huw Sutton, Jack Regan (Harri Deaves ’52), Ethan Roots, Morgan Morris

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy).