Munster came away from their visit to Benetton Treviso with a comfortable and comprehensive 35-14 bonus point victory at the Stadio di Monigo.
Munster took control of the game right from the start and it only took the visitors three minutes to get themselves on the score sheet thanks Danny Barnes, who intercepted an attemped clearance inside the Treviso 22 and touched down for the first try of the game. Ronan O’Gara stepped up and duly converted to put Munster 7 points ahead.
The western province didn’t have to wait long for their second try either thanks to some neat play between Simon Zebo and Barnes which allowed Zebo to crash through the Treviso defence for his first try of the game, which O’Gara once again converted.
O’Gara was on hand to score a penalty a few minutes later and also to chip a neat ball through to Johne Murphy, who touched the ball down for Munster’s third try of the afternoon within 25 minutes, which was again converted by O’Gara.
Treviso began to pile on the pressure from then on in, and eventually forced a try courtesy of Fabio Semenzato, which was converted by Willem de Waal on the stroke of half-time after Mick O’Driscoll was sent to the sin-bin.
Things looked ominous for the guests when Zebo was sent to the sin-bin early in the second half and Treviso took full advantage, with Cornelius van Zyl powering through a thinned Munster defence for the host’s second try, which de Waal again converted.
Munster kept their cool however and O’Gara kept his side in check with two more penalties beofre Zebo scored his second try of the game in the 78th minute to secure the bonus point for Munster.