Munster group win still in their own hands

Treviso 20 Munster 31

Gloucester kept pace with their victory over Bourgoin to ensure that the battle for supremacy in Pool Five of the Heineken Cup will go down to the final pair of fixtures.

Chances are that both sides will qualify for a place in the last eight but Munster, so often hard done by in the knock out stages, need to win and almost certainly need to pick up their fourth bonus point against the French side at Thomond Park on Saturday.

Still, the matter is still in their own hands despite a somewhat lack-lustre performance in the bitterly cold conditions in Treviso.

A patchy first half was followed by long periods of control by the visitors, but without the vim and vigour which characterised their victory seven days earlier against Gloucester.

Treviso took great delight in the fact that a largely red-clad crowd of 6,000 represented their biggest Heineken Cup attendance of the season.

Former Ulster and Ireland full-back Simon Mason made a point: “Quite honestly, we were a bit shocked to see so much red around the ground. It was quite amazing. Gloucester fans were quite vociferous a few weeks ago, but it was nothing like this. Munster must have felt like they were playing at home.”

In the match itself, a frantic opening spell produced two tries, the first to Treviso within four minutes. Walter Pozzeban squeezed in at the corner and Simon Mason converted. Even though Munster had little quality possession they responded with purpose. A forward drive nearly yielded a try before Ronan O’Gara’s sublime skip-pass to Mike Mullins was enough to allow the centre go in for the try and the out-half converted.

Both sharp-shooters missed easy penalty opportunities before, finally, Mason restored the home lead with a 24th minute penalty.

However, without much territorial possession, Munster rumbled back into the lead with a second try from Heineken Cup debutante James Blaney. It came after a line-out claim from Jim Williams. From the subsequent maul, Blaney went through the slightest gap but O’Gara was unable to convert and Munster had to be satisfied with a 12-10 advantage at the break.

Coach Alan Gaffney had harsh words for his troops but, despite a marked improvement in territory in the early stages of the second half, the plethora of mistakes continued.

Rob Henderson dropped the ball and a promising move between Mullins and John Kelly broke down with a knock on and it took the sin-binning of Manuel Dallan to open the door for Munster.

Williams quickly gave Munster breathing space with the third try and Anthony Foley seized his opportunity to score the fourth midway through the half. O’Gara’s conversion pushed Munster’s advantage out to 14 points.

Treviso hit back with a 63rd minute drop goal from Mason but Munster finished the game well in control.

The fifth try came 14 minutes from the end when Jeremy Staunton flew in at the corner after a break by Mullins. O’Gara added the points with a magnificent effort from the right hand touchline.

As the clocked ticked down, Munster rang the changes and perhaps paid a small price. Treviso had a consolation try from Scott Palmer and Mason tacked on the extra two points.

Munster will sit down today and assess the performance over 80 minutes, realise that things did not quite go according to plan and look forward.

“We said last week that we couldn’t live on the reputation of a result against Gloucester, but we were, I suppose, on a high,” admitted man of the match Foley. “We did try to put it to the back of our minds but it’s difficult. People expect us to play well all the time and we expect it of ourselves. Sometimes the circumstances aren’t right although I do admit that our first half display came up well short.

“Sure, it wasn’t the best game we played all season but we did improve significantly in the second half. It would have been worse if we had a good first half and a bad second spell.

“The way it is now, we’re still in control. We beat Bourgoin, get the bonus point and we have a home draw in the quarter-finals. We beat Bourgoin, don’t get the bonus and we might have to play away. But that’s life. We can only do what we need to do and that’s to win next week.”

TREVISO: S. Mason, S. Legg, W. Pozzebon, M. Dallan, B. Williams, F. Smith (captain), S. Picone, G. Faliva, A. Tejeda, S. Costanzo, S. Dellape, A. Gritti, E. Pavenello, S. Parisse, S. Palmer. Replacements. J. Erasmus for Gritti, J. Orlando for Parisse, P. Travagli for Dellappe (all 63), T. Uisentin for Dallan (70).

MUNSTER: S. Payne, J. Kelly, M. Mullins, R. Henderson, A. Horgan, R. O’Gara, P. Stringer, G. McIllwham, J. Blaney, J. Hayes, D. O’Callaghan, P. O’Connell, J. Williams (captain), A. Foley, D. Wallace.

Replacements. J. Staunton for Payne (22, injured). S. Keogh for Wallace (68), S. Kerr for McIllwham (70), J. Holland for Henderson (72), E. Reddan for Stringer, D. Pusey for O’Callaghan (both 77), F. Roche for Blaney (79).

Referee: J. Dume (France)