A youthful Munster side made it six wins in a row for the province thanks to a hard-fought bonus-point win over Benetton at Thomond Park on Friday evening.
It was a night of firsts in Limerick as Alex McHenry, Keynan Knox, Roman Salanoa and Ben Healy scored their first Munster tries. JJ Hanrahan was 100% off the tee with a penalty and three conversions as Healy converted his own try.
20-year-old Clonakilty man Cian Hurley (Garryowen) made his Munster debut in the second row as part of a youthful pack that more than held their own. Hurley is the 53rd player to have lined out for Munster so far this season.
Video | Cian Hurley Interview
Great to hear from a delighted Cian Hurley after his Munster debut.
21-year old Academy lock Thomas Ahern was named Guinness Player of the Match for the first time after a good night’s work from the Waterford man.
The victory saw Munster complete the regular season with 14 wins in 16 games to finish well clear at the top of Guinness PRO14 Conference B.
Benetton hit the front on 23 minutes through captain Dewaldt Duvenage after some great offloads in the build-up. Tommaso Allan converted but JJ Hanrahan replied with a Munster penalty after a high tackle on Rory Scannell.
Munster hit the front for the first time just before the break when Scannell did brilliantly to draw three defenders and pop an offload for McHenry to score under the posts.
The advantage was extended thanks to a Knox try on 46 minutes with captain Jack O’Donoghue assisting with a strong latch.
Roman Salanoa scored his first Munster try two minutes after coming on with another powerful close range drive with Hanrahan converting both tries to push Munster into a 24-7 lead.
Benetton kept battling away and Corniel Els scored off a rolling maul on 70 minutes but Munster hit back with the bonus-point try four minutes later to put the result beyond doubt.
Ahern did brilliantly to set up the try with a great lineout take with fellow Academy men Jack Daly and Ben Healy combining in midfield tp send Liam Coombes away down the left wing.
Coombes made big inroads before passing inside for Healy to fend and finish before converting from out wide for a 31-12 advantage.
Benetton hit back late on with another well-worked try from Giovanni Pettinelli but the young Munster side claimed the spoils thanks to a strong team performance.
Guinness PRO14 Round 16 Round-Up
20-year-old Clonakilty man Cian Hurley (Garryowen) made his Munster debut in the second row.
Academy lock Thomas Ahern won his first Guinness Player of the Match award.
Hurley (20) and Ahern (21) became the youngest second-row pairing to start a match for Munster in the professional era. The record was previously held by Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan who were 21 and 22 respectively when starting against Neath in 2001.
Diarmuid Barron, Jake Flannery and Paddy Patterson made their first Munster starts. Patterson was unfortunate to limp off with an ankle injury after 37 minutes and will be assessed by the medical team.
Four Greencore Munster Rugby Academy players featured as Ahern and Flannery both started with Jack Daly and Ben Healy among the replacements.
Replacement Matt Gallagher returned from injury for his first appearance since November.
Tommy O’Donnell made his 186th Munster appearance off the bench.
Munster: Jake Flannery (Matt Gallagher, 50); Andrew Conway, Alex McHenry, Rory Scannell, Liam Coombes; JJ Hanrahan (Ben Healy, 61), Paddy Patterson (inj, Nick McCarthy, 37); Liam O’Connor (Jeremy Loughman, 56), Diarmuid Barron (Rhys Marshall, 56), Keynan Knox (Roman Salanoa, 56); Cian Hurley, Thomas Ahern; Jack O’Donoghue (C) (Tommy O’Donnell, 68), Chris Cloete (Jack Daly, 66), Jack O’Sullivan.