Munster beat Zebre on Saturday evening in round 3 of the BKT United Rugby Championship at Musgrave Park on Saturday evening.
All three Munster tries were scored in the first half with Niall Scannell (two) and Keynan Knox touching down as Ben Healy kicked three conversions.
Conor Phillips and Ruadhan Quinn made their Munster debuts with Quinn making history as the province’s youngest player of the professional era.
They were two of four Academy players involved with Patrick Campbell and Edwin Edogbo also impressing.
Phillips’ first touch saw him rise highest to collect a Craig Casey box kick and offload to get Munster on the front foot early on.
A Tadhg Beirne turnover after a tackle from Campbell won Munster a penalty with Ben Healy kicking to within five metres.
The Munster pack did the rest as they mauled over after eight minutes with Scannell touching down with Healy’s conversion making it 7-0.
Another dominant rolling maul laid the platform for the second try from Knox on 17 minutes as he scored from close range.
Jack O’Donoghue looked to have scored the third try on 22 minutes after Tadhg Beirne robbed a lineout and Craig Casey took a quick tap but the ball went forward as O’Donoghue touched down.
However, Gabriele Venditti was sent to the sin bin for not retreating 10 minutes after Casey’s quick tap and Munster went to the corner as Scannell scored his second try following the maul.
Zebre enjoyed a purple patch as the half wore on but Peter O’Mahony and Tadhg Beirne stole lineouts time after time to keep the visitors scoreless at the break.
Zebre were back in the game on 44 minutes as they went wide to Jacopo Trulla on the left flank and he chipped ahead for Lorenzo Pani to score with the bouncing ball beating Healy.
Tiff Eden was off target and it stayed 21-5.
It was a stop-start encounter throughout with neither side able to build any sort of moment and further moments of note were few and far between for the remainder of the game.
Edwin Edogbo and Ruadhan Quinn made big impacts off the bench with Edogbo winning two important turnovers and Quinn making two rampaging runs down the left wing.
There was to be no bonus point for Munster but it was an important win ahead of next Friday’s trip to Connacht.
URC Round 3 Round-Up
Conor Phillips made his senior debut for Munster and was one of four Academy players who featured.
18-year-old Ruadhan Quinn became the youngest player to line out for Munster in a competitive fixture in the professional era.
Stephen Archer made his 250th Munster appearance.
Craig Casey made his 50th appearance.
Munster: Mike Haley; Conor Phillips, Malakai Fekitoa, Dan Goggin (Rory Scannell, 60), Patrick Campbell; Ben Healy (Joey Carbery, 49), Craig Casey (Conor Murray, 49); Dave Kilcoyne (Jeremy Loughman, 49), Niall Scannell (Scott Buckley, 49), Keynan Knox (Stephen Archer, 45); Fineen Wycherley (Edwin Edogbo, 58), Tadhg Beirne; Jack O’Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony (C), Jack O’Sullivan (Ruadhan Quinn, 73).