Munster 46 USA Eagles 22: A SECOND-STRING Munster side beat the USA Eagles to retain the Setanta Challenge Cup on Saturday afternoon in front of 8,350 fans at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.
With their Ireland contingent rested and Doug Howlett not back in action until next week, only two of the Heineken Cup final team started the match. The Eagles took the lead with an early penalty from Valenese Malifa and Justin Boyd added a try on the right wing to make it 8-0 after 10 minutes.
But Munster responded with 17 points without reply. Paul Warwick landed a 16th-minute penalty and converted tries followed from Lifeimi Mafi (22nd minute) and Billy Holland six minutes later.
Louis Stanfill put the finishing touch to a breakaway try for the US and Malifa converted to make it 17-15 but Warwick's late penalty put Munster five ahead at the interval and they added tries in the third quarter from Tomás O'Leary and Frankie Sheahan. US outhalf Malifa responded with a try that he converted himself for the hosts' last score before Barry Murphy added a brace of tries to complete the scoring for the visitors.
The only downside for Munster was a knee injury sustained by Mike Prendergast just before half-time. Munster coach Tony McGahan said: "To be able to put up 46 points against the US was no easy feat."
Scorers: Munster - Tries: Murphy (2), Mafi, Holland, Sheahan, O'Leary. Pens: Warwick 2. Cons: Manning 3, Warwick 2. USA Eagles - Tries: Boyd, Stanfill, Malifa, 2 cons, 1 pen
MUNSTER: Denis Hurley; B Carney, K Earls, L Mafi, A Horgan; P Warwick, M Prendergast; F Pucciariello, D Fogarty, T Buckley; M O'Driscoll (capt), D Ryan; B Holland, N Ronan, J O'Sullivan. Replacements: Darragh Hurley, F Sheahan, M Melbourne, T O'Donnell, T O'Leary, J Manning, R Tipoki, B Murphy, I Dowling, K Lewis.
USA Eagles; C Wyles, J Boyd, A Tuilevuka, A Tuipolotu, T Coppedge, V Mailfa, M Petri, M Moeakiola, M Crick, B Lemay, J Van Der Giessen, L Stanfill, T Clever (capt), K Sheehan, P Quinn. Replacements: J Welch, B Barclay B Widemer, R Pretorious, R Shaw, G Golding B Scully, C Rock, H Dirksen, O Lentz, H Smith.
Referee: Chris Henshall(USA)
