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Gavin Coombes grabs four tries as Munster easy to victory over Zebre
Gavin Coombes scored four tries as Munster secured second place in the northern section of the Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup with a convincing 54-11 victory over Zebre in Parma. The Irish province had been in with a chance of progressing to the final until Benetton’s clash with the Ospreys in Bridgend was cancelled due to coronavirus cases in the Welsh region’s squad.
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The men from Treviso were awarded the four points as a result, moving above Glasgow Warriors and out of Munster’s reach to secure their place in the showpiece. Coombes and Craig Casey scored two first-half tries apiece in front of around 1,000 fans as Munster took a 22-point lead into the break, before Niall Scannell and Liam Coombes added their names to the scoresheet in the second half and the number eight’s quartet was completed.
Joey Carbery contributed six conversions from six attempts, while Federico Mori crossed for Zebre’s only try midway through the second period as the Italians ended the competition bottom of the table. Zebre started brightly but it was Munster who got over for the opening score after ten minutes when Coombes powered over from close range and Carbery added the extras.
Occasional bursts forward from the home side gave Munster something to think about and their efforts were eventually rewarded with two Carlo Canna penalties that reduced the deficit to a single point. The visitors soon re-established daylight, however, showing good hands to spread the ball wide to the right before Casey touched down in the corner and Carbery split the posts.
Coombes then collected the ball at the back of a lineout to charge over for his second five minutes from half-time, and there was still time for Casey to dot down under the posts for the bonus point before the interval. Carbery stayed perfect from the tee to open up a 28-6 lead at the end of the opening period.
? Match highlights from a high try-scoring affair between @ZebreRugby and @MunsterRugby in Parma
Report ?? https://t.co/Ptgc7HANMR
#?? #ZEBvMUN
? #GuinnessPRO14RainbowCup pic.twitter.com/2v82E4xdmW— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) June 11, 2021
Scannell touched down from a lineout maul early in the second half, with Carbery again on target before the fly-half hauled down Mori at the other end with a try-saving tackle. There was no stopping Mori three minutes short of the hour, though. Following a period of pressure on the Munster line, Zebre spread the ball out wide for the centre to twist and turn his way over for the hosts’ only try.
Mori’s joy was short-lived as Liam Coombes intercepted his attempted chip to race for the line and Carbery kept up his conversion record before clocking off for the evening. Gavin Coombes then capitalised on a fortunate bounce of the ball to go over under the posts, with Jake Flannery picking up where Carbery had left off by adding the conversion. The No8 completed the scoring after the 80 and second-row Billy Holland, making his final appearance for the province, was wayward with a rare attempt from the tee.
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"They explained it to me and it makes perfect sense"
– Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber absolves his burned players of blame#Springboks #LionsRugby
https://t.co/BHnKF4lEki— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 9, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments