Injury Mars Munster Victory

There was little euphoria in the Munster camp in the immediate aftermath of the 29-10 win over The Scarlets after scrum-half Tomas O’Leary was stretchered off with a serious looking ankle injury after just 10 minutes of the game.

At that stage Munster led 7-0 after a sparkling try from Ian Dowling created initially by good breaks from Keith Earls and Doug Howlett before O’Leary’s long pass gave Dowling a clear run to the line.

Rhys Priestland and Ronan O’Gara swopped penalties and Munster had to wait until the 38th minute of the half before they had their second try  from David Wallace – at a time when they were reduced to 14 after Earls had been yellow-carded.

Scarlets clawed their way back into the game with a Martin Roberts try in the 46th minute converted by replacement Robert Jones but Munster mustered enough momentum to score further tries from Keith Earls and Denis Leamy to earn themselves the bonus point and keep themselves on track for the title.

Munster: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O Gara capt, T OLeary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D OCallaghan, M ODriscoll, A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements: D Fogarty, T Buckley, D Ryan, N Ronan, P Stringer, B Murphy, D Hurley.

Scarlets: D Evans; M Jones (capt), R Higgitt, J Davies, L Williams; R Priestland, M Roberts; I Thomas, M Schwalger, S Roberts, V Cooper, D Day, J Turnbull, R McCusker, D Lyons. Replacements: P John, M Rees, A Shingler, J Edwards, G Cattle, S Jones, C Thomas.

Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU).