Munster 51 Treviso 0The danger, of course, in assessing another half-century rout of an Italian side is to read too much into it. Sure enough, by the end, the tries were coming a mite softly against some marshmallow tackling. Nonetheless, Munster had to be close to their voracious best to eat into Treviso.

About the only fault in an otherwise ruthless display was an occasional lack of efficiency. Munster could certainly have scored another three or four tries. But in virtually every other respect Munster were the masters in an impressive day at the office.

From first minute to last the hunger for work, even in defence, was striking. The likes of Anthony Foley and the tear-aways in the second-row, Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan, were almost pushing each other out of the way in the queue to make the hits. Likewise Frankie Sheahan, Marcus Horan and company were queuing up to make the hard yards as well. Munster simply bossed the points of collision across the gain line.

First and foremost, Munster took ownership of the ball in the first quarter.

Not unexpectedly, O'Connell and O'Callaghan ruled the air, pinching seven Treviso throws and ensuring a veritable stream of quality possession (one lineout apart) from Sheahan's pinpoint throwing.

Even in his current rich vein of form, this latest all-action performance by the ultra-athletic O'Connell was simply awesome. Pound for pound, there's not a better player in Irish rugby right now.

There's nothing he didn't throw his body, heart and soul into - be it lineout work, mauling, scrummaging, tackling or taking the ball on - in practically doing the work of two men and the scary thing is, as Alan Gaffney said afterwards, that "he's still got some way to go. He's got certain parts of his game he has to keep improving, running with the ball, and it's fantastic to think how good he is and that he still has places to go".

Modesty forbids, of course, and typically, O'Connell was quick to point out that in lineout work the catchers "get the kudos, but the work of the thrower and the lifters is just as important". Nonetheless, he did admit that "things are going well", which probably wins the prize for understatement of the year.

All around, Gaffney had good performances to admire. Peter Stringer and Ronan O'Gara were pretty much at their vintage Munster best, Rob Henderson made a strong, muscular return after his latest torn bicep, while another eye-catchingly potent display by Shaun Payne questioned his non-inclusion for Lanzarote. Even Jeremy Staunton, encouragingly, regained some of his confidence.

"I thought they went through the whole process of the game very well," extolled Gaffney, "and didn't just turn up playing Baabaas rugby. The lineout was fantastic, the maul was good, the scrum was good and the backs started to hit the ball with pace." Gaffney quibbled with some of the handling and the ruck ball, but saw enough to predict that the team would get even better.

You actually felt a little sorry for the Italians. On another one of those wintry Thomond days when you wouldn't have put the cat out, this was a long way from northern Italy. But it didn't stop another baying home crowd from packing the ground to the rafters, and it was only through Treviso's grit that they kept damage to just three points by the end of the first quarter.

Yet, cometh the end of what must have been an exceedingly long 80 minutes for them, they'd long since tackled themselves to a standstill and several of them simply crashed to the turf and lay there motionless for minutes.

The loss of Alessandro Troncon at half-time due to a twisted knee was a hammer blow. And as coach Craig Green was obliged to delve further into their replacement's bench, their challenge gradually became flimsier.

Driven on by the 13,000 capacity crowd, which put the combined efforts of the Leinster Branch and their fair-weather supporters the previous week to shame, and by their own professionalism, Munster's pressure was total and utterly unrelenting.

For example, not the least pleasing aspect of the exercise for Munster will have been the "nil" part. "The boys made the call at half-time," said Gaffney, "to use the modern terminology, they wanted to keep them nude. It shows a lot of pride in the performance to keep a team to nil."

Munster had also identified the Treviso maul as their chief weapon so, being Munster, that was the area they targeted as much as anywhere. It must have been soul destroying for Treviso. Even though the first lineout drive didn't yield a score, it was clear there would be points there as the Italians wilted.

Sure enough, the incomparable double act of O'Connell and O'Callaghan scored off each other's takes for the second and third tries which really broke the Italians' heart, though they were very much cumulative efforts by the pack.

However, the first try probably showed what this Munster team are striving to achieve more than any of the other tries.

Quick hands and rapid fire ruck ball were the keys. O'Gara's skip pass, taking lineout ball flat, hit David Wallace, who made ground before Staunton cut back inside. O'Connell set it up again from O'Gara's deft pass, then so did Mike Mullins, before John Kelly juggled another quick transfer by O'Gara to offload for Staunton to score handsomely. A cracker.

"One of the better tries I've seen Munster score for some time," said Gaffney. "That's the kind of rugby we're trying to play."

After the break, Foley ploughed through some half-hearted tackling off a tap penalty, Wallace sent Payne over off soft turnover ball and Jason Holland treated himself to a brace before Foley took his tally to a remarkable 16 in the competition with a charge-down try.

With Gloucester also winning two games from two, it couldn't be set up more intriguingly for the sides' pivotal, back-to-back meetings in the new year. As O'Connell put it, "a nice little appetiser for January".

SCORING SEQUENCE: 17 mins: O'Gara pen, 3-0; 21 mins: Staunton try, 8-0; 30 mins: O'Callaghan try, 13-0; 39 mins: O'Connell try, 18-0; half-time: 18-0; 50 mins: Foley try, O'Gara con, 25-0; 55 mins: Payne try, 30-0; 65 mins: Holland try, O'Gara con, 37-0; 72 mins: Holland try, O'Gara, con 44-0; 78 mins: Foley try, O'Gara, con 51-0.

MUNSTER: J Staunton; J Kelly, M Mullins, R Henderson, S Payne; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, P O'Connell, D O'Callaghan, J Williams, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements: G McIlwham for Hayes, 51 mins); J Holland for Mullins, 60 mins; M Lawlor for Staunton, 66 mins; D Pussey for O'Connell, 70 mins; S Keogh for Wiliams, 75 mins; J Blaney for Sheahan, E Reddan for Stringer, both 79 mins.

BENETTON TREVISO: S Mason; G Canale, T Visentin, M Dallan, S Legg; F Smith, A Troncon; P Ribbens, A Tejeda, S Costanzo, C Checchinato, S Delappe, J Erasmus, S Palmer, S Parisse. Replacements: P Travagli for Troncon, half-time; F Sbaraglini for Erasmus, 40-49 mins and 58 mins; D Eigner for Smith, S Garozzo for Parisse, both 58 mins; M Perziano for Legg, P di Santo for Constanzo, E Pavanello for Checchinato, all 66 mins. Sin-binned: A Tejeda, 39-49 mins.

Referee: Rob Dickson (Scotland).