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Simon Zebo surpassed the late Anthony Foley as Munster’s top Heineken Champions Cup try scorer in a 45-7 bonus-point win over Wasps at Thomond Park.
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Zebo’s 24th European try for the province, coupled with efforts from Conor Murray and Jack O’Donoghue, had them 24-7 ahead at half-time.
Last week’s conquering of Toulouse meant injury-hit Wasps still had a shot at reaching the round of 16, while Munster were already through and eyeing up a higher seeding.
Dan Robson touched down for the visitors in the 27th minute, but Jeremy Loughman, Zebo and Rory Scannell made it six tries in the end for Munster, who finished third in Pool B.
Rounding off the pool stages with a convincing fourth victory, Johann Van Graan’s side noticeably showed more variety and ambition in attack on the back of some recent criticism of their play.
Munster had some late reshuffling before kick-off, with Loughman and Zebo starting in place of Dave Kilcoyne (ill) and Keith Earls (strain) respectively.
With the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in Ireland, the larger-than-expected 13,047-strong crowd were treated to a strong start from the hosts.
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A TMO review ruled out a potential knock-on prior to Murray’s ninth-minute opener, the scrum-half pouncing on the loose ball to score after a terrific initial carry from Gavin Coombes.
Ben Healy converted, tagged on a penalty and then provided a clever chip-kick assist for Zebo to bundle over from close range.
Healy’s conversion made it 17-0, but Robson marked his return from a groin injury with a sharply-finished try. He reached over after a quick tap penalty.
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The extras were added by Charlie Atkinson, who was swatted away by Coombes in the build-up to O’Donoghue’s try on the half hour mark. Healy’s boot restored the 17-point gap.
Huge milestone for @SimonZebo to hit and you can see what it means 👏👏👏#MUNvWAS | Credit: @btsportrugby pic.twitter.com/2RqClX6mae
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 23, 2022
Munster ended the first half with 14 men, number eight Coombes seeing yellow for a series of team penalties. Yet, Wasps were unable to convert the pressure into points.
The sight of Thomas Young being stretchered off for a head injury was another blow for an already weakened Wasps, who conceded again five minutes after the restart. Prop Loughman drove over after a maul had done the damage.
Ali Crossdale intercepted to prevent another Munster score, and despite Robson being binned for an early challenge on Murray, the visitors held firm despite some loose kicking from Atkinson and Will Porter.
A trademark Tadhg Beirne turnover ruined a promising Josh Bassett-led attack, before Munster produced a late flourish, profiting from fly-half Atkinson’s sin-binning in the 77th minute.
A sweeping attack ended with Zebo crossing in the left corner, and a fine break by the 31-year-old set up Scannell to stroll over at the death. Replacement Jack Crowley kicked both conversions.
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
29 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments