Their sluggish, sloppy start to the season seems an incongruous memory now. Munster took absolute command of their Heineken Cup pool with another brilliant away performance yesterday, this time in the north of Italy.
Their target of a bonus-point win was achieved within 33 minutes after a devastating spell of daring attack from what seemed like every corner of the field.
The upshot is that Northampton host Perpignan today knowing that they must conjure a bonus-point win of their own just to stay in touch and follow that up with a victory over Munster in Thomond Park five days later. This is Munster’s pool to lose now.
Given Perpignan’s calamitous failure to win here in the opening round of matches, and Northampton’s difficult win on their visit, it was reasonable to expect that Munster would have to dig a couple of trenches and settle in for the fight. The reality was gloriously different. On a firm pitch and in perfect overhead conditions they swept Treviso off their feet from the very beginning and had two tries on the board before the home team could lay a hand on them.
In the first half especially they played with stunning accuracy and freedom. The third try was probably the best expression of their attitude. Inside the Munster 22 Dougie Howlett slung a long pass to Paul Warwick, standing no more than eight metres from his own posts with Treviso chasers closing down the space.
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Under any circumstances it was a risky pass but Warwick interpreted it as an invitation to attack. He set off on an incredible run, zig-zagging through traffic like a jay-walker, and from the unlikeliest of starting positions he nearly made it to the Treviso 10-metre line before he was brought to ground. The support, though, was plentiful. Munster worked the short-side, Donncha O’Callaghan was the link between Niall Ronan and David Wallace, and when they manipulated the space O’Callaghan was available again to take the scoring pass and record his first try in three seasons. The match was only 11 minutes old and Munster were 17-0 ahead.
Overall, Warwick had a sparkling match at full-back and another brilliant piece of individualism by him produced Munster’s bonus-point try seven minutes before the break. Ronan O’Gara fed him with a lovely quick pass in midfield, Warwick spotted a gaping hole in behind the Treviso defence and found it with a perfectly judged chip ahead to touch down behind the posts.
If Warwick was Munster’s star, Keith Earls was close behind. It was a searing 50-metre break by him that set up Denis Hurley’s try after three minutes and three minutes later Earls was the finisher after clever play by Howlett.
At different times this season Munster have struggled to find the right blend behind the scrum but yesterday they played with thrilling harmony.
Jean de Villiers took Lifeimi Mafi’s place in the centre and though he didn’t score he had a significant part in three of the tries — including both of Munster’s scores in the final quarter — and it is impossible to see Mafi getting back in for the visit of Northampton. Clearly there are far greater challenges ahead and the poverty of Treviso’s defending must be taken into account but Munster reached a superb level of execution yesterday.
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It was expected that Munster would struggle in the scrums but that concern didn’t materialise in any harmful way. Midway through the first half Treviso were camped under the Munster posts with a series of scrums and it looked for a while as if a penalty try might be awarded and yellow cards issued. Instead, Munster finished the sequence with a strong defensive scrum that forced a penalty.
Leading by 30-7 at the break they could afford the luxury of a bench clearance in the second half. Treviso didn’t score again and for a while it looked as if Munster mightn’t be bothered either. But then Earls got over for his second try and Donnacha Ryan finished the rout in the last minute.
Star man: Paul Warwick (Munster)
Scorers: Treviso: Try: Zanni 24 Con: Goosen
Munster: Tries: Hurley 3, Earls 6, 63, O’Callaghan 11, Warwick 33, Ryan 80 Cons: O’Gara (3), Warwick Pen: O’Gara (2)
Referee: C White (RFU)
Attendance: 5,000
Treviso: L McLean, A Vilk, A Sgarbi, G Garcia, B de Jager, M Goosen (T Botes 47 min), S Picone, M Rizzo (A Allori 55 min), L Ghiraldini (D Vidal 60 min) I Fernandez Rouyet (P Di Santo 55 min) A Pavanello (E Pavanello 74 min) C van Zyl, B Vermaak, A Zanni, D Kingi
Munster: P Warwick, D Howlett, K Earls, J de Villiers, D Hurley (I Dowling 65 min), R O’Gara (L Mafi 64 min), T O’Leary (P Stringer 60), W du Preez (T Buckley 72 min), D Fogarty (D Varley 45 min), J Hayes (J Brugnaut 72 min), D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, A Quinlan (D Ryan 60 min), N Ronan, D Wallace (J Coughlan h-t)