Treviso 19 Munster 18:TONY McGAHAN made little effort to hide his disappointment yesterday after Munster were humbled by an under-strength Treviso.
The league leaders were also depleted in terms of international players, but were nevertheless expected to win comfortably against an opposition they had never lost to before.
However, just as Leinster and Connacht had done, Munster allowed their hosts to build a second-half lead, and despite late tries by Doug Howlett and James Coughlan, they were unable to complete the comeback.
“I’m really annoyed with our performance today,” bristled McGahan, who struggled to put it all into words. “You can’t come to a place like this and expect to win if you don’t get any platform to play off.
“I thought we were lethargic to start the game, our set-piece was in trouble for most of the game, and our inability to put them under pressure at the back end of the game was disappointing.”
At the heart of the problem was a retreating scrum, which conceded five penalties in the opening half, of which two were turned into points by Willem de Vaal, cancelling out Paul Warwick’s sixth-minute opener.
Munster were handed a golden opportunity to rack up some points when Treviso were reduced to 14 before half-time, Franco Sbaraglini sent to the bin for infringing in the green zone.
However, they rarely threatened the home line during that spell, let down by poor execution among the backs and more problems in the set-piece.
Wian du Preez was introduced at half-time for Darragh Hurley, who will have learned from his torrid first-halt experience, but Treviso continued to dominate the engagement, and subsequently the flow of the match.
Damien Varley received his marching orders for infringing in Treviso’s green zone seven minutes after the restart, de Vaal landed another penalty, and then du Preez joined Varley in the bin for repeated infringement.
With a two-man advantage, Treviso worked an opening for Gonzalo Padro in the corner. De Vaal converted and the hosts led 16-3.
Munster rallied, and did well to make a game of it. Howlett benefited from some intricate passing when he touched down in the 67th minute, while Coughlan showed tremendous strength to barge over 10 minutes later.
The scoreline flattered them, however. As Howlett said: “You don’t start playing half-way through the second half and expect to win. The disappointment is deep in this game, there is a feeling of letting the side down.”
TREVISO: B Williams; L Nitoglia (B de Jager 79), E Galon, A Pratichetti (T Benvenuti 61), M Sepe (E Ceccato 37-44); W De Waal, T Botes; M Rizzo (I Fernandez Rouyet 6), F Sbaraglini, L Cittadini (P Di Santo 60); A Pavanello (capt), C Van Zyl; B Vermaak, G Padrò, M Filippucci (E Pavanello 78).
MUNSTER: S Deasy (D Hurley 60); D Howlett, T Gleeson (S Tuitupou 51), L Mafi, S Zebo (D Hurley 55-60); P Warwick, D Williams; D Hurley (W du Preez h/t), D Varley (M Sherry 57-66), S Archer (P Borlase 60); I Nagle (D Ryan 60), D Foley (M O'Driscoll 49), B Holland (M Sherry 47-57), T O'Donnell, J Coughlan.
Referee: James Jones(WRU).
