Jack Crowley and Shane Daly lead the way as Munster outclass Ospreys
Shane Daly of Munster scores his side's first try despite the attempts of Owen Watkin of Ospreys at Brewery Field. Picture: Gruff Thomas/Sportsfile
Munster capped off their first visit to Brewery Field in Bridgend in 24 years by securing a comfortable bonus-point victory over the Ospreys on Saturday evening to climb back up to second place in the URC table.
Fresh from this week’s reveal that Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake are both set to depart the club and join Gloucester in the summer, the Ospreys seemed extra motivated from the outset, with them dominating the early exchanges and they duly opened the scoring through the boot of Dan Edwards from a penalty straight in front of the Munster posts after 10 minutes.
In the 15th minute, Ospreys full-back Max Nagy was yellow-carded for a trip on Shane Daly on the left touchline, which presented Munster with their first real attacking platform. The home side were able to repel two mauls but when a ruck developed Gavin Coombes displayed his scrum-half skills by quickly popping a pass to Daly to go over in the corner in the 17th minute.
Edwards missed a penalty attempt in the 22nd minute after the Ospreys front row had won the opportunity with a huge scrum, and moments later Munster thought they were about to score a try down the other end only for Paddy Patterson to be blown for a tiny knock on at the base of a ruck.
In the 28th minute, Mike Haley was charged down and needed Shane Daly to bail him out, as the winger raced back to win the race to the ball over the Munster tryline and kick the ball dead.
The Munster maul had another crack at it in the 35th minute and on the second attempt, they split the Ospreys pack with replacement hooker Lee Barron capitalising to crash over for his second try for the club.
Try number three came just before the half-time whistle. Paddy Patterson sparked the move with a lovely little snipe that got him with a metre of the Ospreys tryline. In the next phase, Jack Crowley deputised at the base of the ruck and was able to dive over to score next to the left upright, to ensure Munster had a commanding 3-19 lead at the break, after playing into a strong breeze.
The bonus point try came in the 48th minute with the maul again making big yards before the Munster backs were put to work. Alex Nanikivell punched a huge hole up the middle before he unleashed Tom Farrell, who was dragged down just short. With the Ospreys in sharp retreat, Patterson had the relatively simple task of feeding Mike Haley to his left, and the full back was able to run it in under the posts.
The Ospreys battered away at the Munster line and forced a yellow card to Munster captain Jack O’Donoghue, with Morgan Morris blasting over to score in the 53rd minute.
No more scores were added, but from a Muster perspective, it was very much a case of job done.
D Edwards (1 pen, 1 con), M Morris (1 try).
J Crowley (1 try, 3 cons), S Daly, L Barron, M Haley (1 try each).
M Nagy; D Kasende, E Boshoff, O Watkin, K Giles; D Edwards, R Morgan-Williams: S Thomas, D Lake (c), R Henry, R Davies, R Smith, J Ratti, H Deaves, M Morris.
M Morse for M Morris (5), M Morris for M Morse (20), K Hardy for R Morgan-Williams (40), S Parry, T Botha and K Willians for S Thomas, R Henry and O Watkin (54), M Morse for H Deaves (58), J Walsh for K Giles (62), H Sutton for R Smith (77).
M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, S Daly; J Crowley, P Patterson; J Loughman, N Scannell, M Ala'alatoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; J O’Donoghue (c), A Kendellen, G Coombes.
L Barron for N Scannell (29), C Bartley and Edwin Edogbo for M Ala’alatoa and J Kleyn (56), M Milne, J Hodnett and JJ Hanrahan for J Loughman, G Coombes and J Crowley (64), E Coughlan for P Patterson (69), T Ahern for F Wycherley (72).
Sam Grove White (SRU)
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