Copeland And Keatley Catch The Eye In Munster Bonus Point Victory

Ian Keatley came off the bench to steer Munster to a 33-5 GUINNESS PRO14 bonus point win over Michael Bradley’s Zebre side at Thomond Park.

Ian Keatley missed out on the reserve out-half spot behind Jonathan Sexton for the opening two rounds of the Six Nations Championship, but his impressive cameo in Limerick will have been noted by Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.

Munster, who had first half tries from Sam Arnold and Brian Scott, were finding it tough going when Guglielmo Palazzani marked his 100th appearance for Zebre with a snappy 52nd-minute try, cutting the gap to 12-5.

However, the hosts were able to bring on the Ireland trio of Keatley, Rory Scannell and John Ryan, as well as South African debutant lock Gerbrandt Grobler, and unanswered scores from man-of-the-match Robin Copeland (55 minutes), Scannell (57) and Arnold (73) wrapped up the points.

With a strong wind behind them in the first half, Zebre engineered the first scoring opportunity but number 8 Copeland’s excellent maul defence forced a turnover.

Darren Sweetnam was prominent in attack for Munster who had to wait until the 25th minute for the breakthrough score. Half-backs Duncan Williams and JJ Hanrahan whipped possession wide for Conor Oliver to send bustling centre Arnold over in the left corner.

Hanrahan missed the conversion but it was his soft hands which launched Munster downfield for try number two. Zebre coughed up a penalty and the resulting lineout maul saw prop Scott plunge over with support from Copeland.

Hanrahan’s successful kick from out wide made it 12-0 for the interval, with the Italians missing out on a late reply when Renato Giammarioli’s forward pass ruled out a try for centre Faialaga Afamasaga.

Scrum half Williams, who was making his 150th appearance for Munster, did not cover himself in glory when he was blocked down early in the second half, and he then afforded his opposite number Palazzani too much space as the Italian international struck for his five-pointer from a close-range scrum.

However, that concession brought the best out of Johann van Graan’s men as Keatley made a timely impact as a replacement. The industrious Oliver was stopped just short of the line before Copeland successfully grounded the ball for a 19-5 lead.

Replacement centre Scannell, who also made his mark in attack, secured the bonus point two minutes later, sprinting clear after a clever run and well-timed pass from Keatley who added his second conversion in quick succession.

As they cut Glasgow’s lead at the top of Conference A to 12 points, Munster finished with a flourish and would have had two more tries had Simon Zebo’s kick not beaten him over the end-line. A few minutes earlier, Arnold had completed his brace after sharp handling by lively 21-year-old scrum half John Poland and Scannell.

Along with the positivity of the result and the PRO14 debuts for Grobler and UCC clubman Poland, Arnold’s centre partner Dan Goggin returned from injury for his first start of the season, while the fit-again Dave O’Callaghan made his first appearance of the campaign off the bench.