Conor Murray gave the Lions a fitness boost with a second half appearance in Munster’s thunderous 50-14 GUINNESS PRO12 win over Connacht at Thomond Park.
Conor Murray came on in the 52nd minute for his first run-out since suffering a shoulder injury on Six Nations duty against Wales on March 10. He could have two more games in Munster red before departing for New Zealand, with Rassie Erasmus’ men hosting the Ospreys in a May 20 semi-final in Limerick.
Munster pipped Leinster to top spot in the PRO12 table, running Connacht ragged at times with out-half Ian Keatley, who kicked 15 points, putting in another man-of-the-match performance against his former side.
Keith Earls, Jack O’Donoghue and Andrew Conway all crossed for tries as dominant Munster built a 24-0 half-time lead, their bonus point arriving in the 43rd minute courtesy of prop James Cronin.
Connacht, who will travel to either Northampton Saints or Gloucester (if they win the Challenge Cup) in the Champions Cup qualification play-offs, were more competitive in the second half. Cian Kelleher and Naulia Dawai touched down either side of Conway’s second score, but Munster cruised to the half-century with further tries from Francis Saili and Conor Oliver.
Tom Farrell’s slick break was an early highlight for the eighth-placed visitors, but they fell behind in the seventh minute when Keatley’s delayed pass sent Dan Goggin through a gap and he fed Earls to go in behind the posts.
A forward pass from Cronin denied Earls a possible second try on the quarter hour mark, the chance coming just a few minutes after Danie Poolman had fumbled Jack Carty’s cross-field kick in a rare try-scoring situation for Connacht.
Keatley knocked over a central penalty in the 24th minute, rewarding Cronin and Jean Deysel for their breakdown work, and the ex-Connacht play-maker was also prominent in the build-up to O’Donoghue’s try, the number 8 crossing wide on the left via quick passes from Cronin and Conway.
Keatley added the extras in impressive fashion and it was his initial long pass and support play, allied to an excellent Alex Wootton offload, which was pivotal to full-back Conway’s well-finished effort eight minutes before the break.
Too many Connacht attacks were breaking down deep in their own half, and within minutes of the restart, they allowed Wootton to slip through a series of tackles and Cronin duly crashed over for his close range try.
Keatley’s fine kicking display continued – he had a seven-out-of-eight return – but Connacht, in the final PRO12 game of Pat Lam’s coaching tenure, rallied with winger Kelleher’s very well-taken 51st-minute try from a Carty cross-field kick.
However, the westerners blundered from the restart, immediately coughing up possession and Jaco Taute’s short pass saw Conway complete his brace.
Craig Ronaldson landed his second successful conversion when improving Fijian replacement Dawai’s 64th-minute try which saw him peel off a lineout maul. Ronaldson’s centre partner Farrell, arguably the westerners’ best player on the day, also continued to pose a threat with ball in hand.
Nonetheless, another turnover close to their posts saw Saili punish Connacht with try number six and flanker Oliver, profiting from Murray and Conway’s sharp passing, added the seventh with only seconds remaining.
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