Contented Gaffney pins hopes on new year

Wily Australian Alan Gaffney was hardly turning cartwheels under the je black Limerick sky after his side’s 51-0 demolition of lowly Benetton Treviso, but afforded himself a smile of satisfaction in the aftermath.

The Munster coach said: “I thought we played pretty well in the conditions.

“On a slippery pitch like that it was hard to put any of our patterns together but we showed admirable patience and got the win and the bonus point.

“I’m very happy to be talking with two wins under our belts before Christmas and our games with Gloucester.”

Asked what satisfied him most, Gaffney said “our ability to carve open their defence and take our chances”.

He explained: ‘Treviso came here to put in the effort and they have to be commended for that.

“It was tough in the first half – I thought perhaps we were a bit slack in the breakdown area.

“But the second 40 opened it up for us and we scored twice while they were down to 14 men.

”I’m delighted for the guys, especially the forwards (three of whom scored).

“Some of the guys are off to Lanzarote with the Ireland set-up but when we regroup again it will be heads down for the next game.’

Treviso coach Craig Green could offer little to defend his team, who had hooker Alvaro Tejeda sin-binned before the break and scrum-half Alessandro Troncon taken to hospital with a broken leg.

He said: ‘We’re devastated, it was quite embarrassing and it will take a while for the boys to lift themselves – but they’ll have to.

“Losing Alessandro (Troncon) was a bitter pill for us to swallow as I thought we were competing well at 18-0 down, but their pack soon turned us around and there were too many gaps for them to punch through in the end.”

Man-of-the-match Paul O’Connell, who came off near the end to a rousing reception, felt Munster handled the conditions as best they could.

The giant 24-year-old lock said: “It’s never easy to get things going on a day like that, but both sides did well to play the game fairly and we just had too much for them in the end.

“Although in saying that, it was a hard game and a bit of a confidence booster for myself and the team scoring the tries we did heading into the break.

“Everyone knew when the draw was made that the Gloucester games in the New Year would swing the pool in the winners’ favour and we’ll be planning ahead now for those games as early as we can.”

Munster travel to the Stoop on January 10 and Gloucester revisit the scene of their 33-6 loss to the Irish province in last season’s competition pool stages just a week later.