Munster win yet again

Munster looked every bit the Champions Cup contenders as they devoured a poor Racing Metro 92 at Stades Yves Du Manoir on a 32-7 scoreline.

A bonus-point win was confirmed through tries from Simon Zebo, CJ Stander, Andrew Conway and Niall Scannell.

Racing did manage a second-half score of their own through Matthieu Voisin but it was far too little too late as Munster marked the memory of their late coach Anthony Foley in a mach that had to be rescheduled due to his tragic death, back on 16 October. The win puts Munster top of Pool 1 with just two games remaining and in the box seat for qualification for the last eight.

It was all Munster early doors in Paris as they battered the Racing defensive line with in-tight burrowing runs and that paid off as Racing coughed up a penalty within sight of the posts that Tyler Bleyendaal slotted between the sticks.

There was to be no let off in the Munster pressure as they continued to press. From a Peter O’Mahony drive, Conor Murray fed wide left where Zebo cut the line and rolled out of a tackle to dot down for the game’s opening try.

A disinterested Racing offered almost nothing in attack as Munster continued to dominate proceedings heading towards the hour mark, with Bleyendaal adding a second penalty with the Irish province looking every bit the better of the two teams.

The game was virtually out of sight by half-time as Stander created and finished off their second a try. The No 8 initially blocked down a clearance kick from Dan Carter, before collecting the breaking ball and galloping home to cross for the score; and then Conway got on the end of a flowing move out wide to dot down for a third. Bleyendaal added both conversions to give Munster as 25-0 lead at the break and leave them in absolute, complete and utter control.

All that was missing from Munster’s Parisian outing was a fourth try to secure the bonus point and it was to come not long after half-time. And it came in the most Munster of styles a they forced a maul to the line before Scannell broke off the back to touch down with Bleyendaal again accurate from the boot.

Racing were finished at this stage but they did rally in order to to secure a consolation score. A mix up between Zebo and Conway saw Voisin capitalise to flyhack the ball towards the line before diving over to touch down, with Carter slotting the extras.

Photo: Getty/Martin Bureau

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