Impressive Munster Sweep Scarlets Aside With Six-Try Salvo

Four closing tries saw Munster finish with a flourish as a sharply-executed 42-7 bonus point win over the Scarlets took them back into the BKT United Rugby Championship’s top eight.

Resuming their URC title defence in Llanelli, a brace of tries from player-of-the-match Gavin Coombes had the province leading 14-0 at half-time.

Joe Roberts halved the deficit for Dwayne Peel’s side, but Munster dominated again from the hour mark onwards, with Jack O’Sullivan, Tom Ahern, Sean O’Brien, and Shay McCarthy all crossing the whitewash.

Joey Carbery was unerring from the tee with six conversions out of six, O’Brien registered his first try in Munster colours, and Academy winger McCarthy claimed his first URC score after touching down against Bayonne in the Investec Champions Cup in December.

It was an important result for Munster who had lost their two most recent league games to Leinster and Connacht. It was their first away win in the URC since last season’s final, and their first in Wales since winning 43-13 at Parc y Scarlets in October 2021.

Graham Rowntree’s men welcomed back the fit-again RG Snyman and Mike Haley for their first starts of the season, while Ahern and Niall Scannell also returned from injury, and Conor Murray, Jeremy Loughman, and Oli Jager were released from Ireland camp to play.

There was a minute’s applause beforehand to mark the recent passing of Welsh rugby great Barry John. New South African signing Jarrod Taylor was prominent as the Scarlets advanced early on, only for excellent maul defence to swallow up Eduan Swart.

Captained for the first time by Alex Kendellen, Munster had little territory until a Carbery cross-field kick put Shane Daly breaking into some space on the left. The hosts coughed up two offside penalties before Coombes make the breakthrough in the 10th minute.

Niall Scannell had tapped a five-metre penalty, and Kendellen whipped the ball quickly away from the ruck for Coombes to collect and power over the line, closely followed by Ruadhán Quinn and Ahern. Carbery curled the conversion through the uprights.

The Scarlets’ error count increased with a mistimed lineout in the Munster 22, and Archie Hughes knocking on at the base of a scrum. In between, Jager and Snyman showed their offloading skills before Kendellen fumbled a pass that was just too far behind him.

Nonetheless, the Munster pack got the try they deserved from a prolonged attacking spell. Scannell was denied from a maul, but another tap penalty paved the way for Coombes to pile over in the 23rd minute, with Carbery converting.

O’Brien intercepted a Hughes pass to break up a promising Scarlets attack, and despite a brilliant counter-attacking from Johnny McNicholl, the home side coughed up possession with Kendellen winning a turnover and then a penalty.

Scarlets newcomer Taylor increased his influence with two turnovers at the breakdown, and although the long-limbed Ahern responded with one of his own, Carbery missed touch from the resulting penalty.

Munster might have squeezed in a late third try before the interval, with Snyman swooping on a deflected pass from Dan Jones, but the Springbok lock’s hopes of an intercept score were foiled by Ioan Nicholas. The supporting Kendellen was also brought down by the Scarlets cover.

Vaea Fifita provided the inspiration for the Welsh outfit on the resumption, pinching two lineouts in their 22. They soon lifted the home crowd with a superb solo score from young Wales centre Roberts.

Having won a turnover penalty to set up a lineout, Roberts broke past Antoine Frisch in midfield, raiding through from Munster’s 10-metre line and bouncing up to score after Daly and Haley had briefly brought him to ground.

Replacement Charlie Titcombe’s conversion closed the gap to 14-7, and just when Munster looked poised to hit back, a Nicholas and Roberts-led breakout from their own 22 was spoiled by a McNicholl kick that he nudged straight into touch.

Winger Nicholas then came to the Scarlets’ rescue with a try-saving tackle on Haley, and Murray’s try off a scrum was disallowed when replacement O’Sullivan was penalised for holding back his opposite number, Teddy Leatherbarrow.

The Munster pressure had to tell and it did when O’Sullivan burrowed over, with support from the increasingly-influential Kendellen. Carbery converted and also added the extras to Ahern’s 65th-minute bonus point effort, which knocked the stuffing out of the Scarlets.

Kendellen’s big tackle on Titcombe led to turnover ball, and Munster duly worked the ball wide to both wings, releasing O’Brien to break towards the hosts’ 22 and slip an inside pass to Ahern who had the pace to finish off behind the posts.

From prime scrum position in the 72nd minute, Munster were able to wear down the defence again. Carbery and Haley combined to send O’Brien stepping inside McNicholl and crashing over past two more defenders.

Carbery nailed his toughest kick from the right touchline, and replacement McCarthy added the final converted try barely three minutes later. Carbery dummied through and linked with Daly who gobbled up the metres on the left and fed McCarthy on his inside to open his URC account.