Munster 29 Scarlets 10: ALTHOUGH THIS was an ambitious, occasionally uplifting performance, with a certain little set-to in Croke Park next weekend unsurprisingly Munster were far from their best.

Ultimately, as you always suspected they would, Munster attained a bonus point with a quarter of the match remaining without ever really reaching the kind of sustained excellence they showed against the Ospreys.

They wouldn’t have been human if they hadn’t been a little distracted by impending events in Dublin and while a ninth successive win in all competitions mathematically means only the Ospreys can deny them a seemingly inevitable Magners League title, the win was overshadowed by the suspected broken ankle which Tomas O’Leary sustained in the opening 10 minutes.

If the X-rays confirm the initially gloomy diagnosis this would would not only rule him out of Munster’s Heineken Cup-Magners League run-in but almost certainly the Lions’ tour as well. It would be the cruellest of blows for a player who was in the form of his life and utterly merited his Lions’ selection, but the injury would probably sideline him for a minimum of three months depending on whether he needs surgery or not.

A hushed silence fell over Musgrave Park in the ninth minute when O’Leary remained crumpled on the ground after an innocuous-looking accidental collision with a Scarlets player as O’Leary turned in defence. He scarcely moved, and the stretcher hadn’t even arrived before Peter Stringer was on the pitch. A clearly distraught O’Leary held his head in his hands as he was carried off. On an otherwise pleasantly clear evening, it put a cloud over the whole match.

The ensuing three-pointer by Rhys Priestland was the least of Munster’s concern, O’Gara soon restoring the seven-point lead Munster had established courtesy of O’Leary’s excellent blind side cut out pass to Ian Dowling on the touchline. Typical of their approach from the off, they had orchestrated a turnover with typically physical fringe defence and elected to run the ball from their own half.

The halves moved the ball on to the ever-prominent Jerry Flannery for him to release Keith Earls to make a half-break, Doug Howlett taking it on before being hauled down just before the line, and though Lifeimi Mafi was also held up, again quick recycling enabled O’Leary to send Dowling over.

There was no real sign of Munster holding back. If anything, Munster were undone by their own sense of ambition in occasionally forcing the pass and when they review the tape they’ll reflect on plenty of try-scoring chances that went abegging.

Selection for the Lions had seemingly made Alan Quinlan and Flannery grow a few inches taller and broader. Quinlan’s was a virtuoso performance. He seemed to be everywhere, whether making good takes at the tail, tapping a penalty to himself and rumbling before chasing his own chip, putting in big hits, scuffling off the ball with his opposite number and, most of all, make a ton of carries.

Denis Leamy, if less eye-catchingly so and operating closer in, wasn’t far behind at all in a performance full of aggression while, when not showing his skills in amongst the backs, Flannery was brilliantly pilfering balls off the deck.

Their line-out work was good too, Mick O’Driscoll making light of the absence of Paul O’Connell, but for all their own effectiveness at turning over ball, their breakdown work was surprisingly sloppy when it came to protecting their own ball.

Perhaps lulled into a false sense of confidence by their early breakthrough, Munster possibly went wide a bit too early and too often, rather than making the hard yards closer in.

Even so, the second try arrived well before half-time and followed one of Flannery’s daring steals on the deck. Again they attacked swiftly from half-way and went through the phases, Marcus Horan being held up after Flannery’s audacious under-arm reverse pass before David Wallace rumbled, swivelled and reached out for the line, O’Gara again converting.

The rather harsh binning of Earls before the break and the introduction of the Scarlets’ two Lions, Stephen Jones and Matthew Rees, briefly changed the tone of the match.

The biter was bitten when the Scarlets went through the phases off turnover ball, reaching Lee Williams on the wing, who passed inside to full-back Daniel Evans. Though Warwick brilliantly hauled him down from behind, Evans offloaded in the tackle for their impressive scrumhalf Martin Roberts to score.

Wounded by that, Munster upped the ante. Mafi bounced two tackles in a stunning run before handing off to Quinlan, whose return pass was wrongly adjudged forward. Nevertheless the ensuing pressure saw Roberts binned before Munster worked a try off a set scrum, O’Gara and Mafi putting Earls over after decoy runs by Howlett and Denis Hurley.

The bonus point was achieved soon after with a pushover try which was credited to Leamy, though most of the backslapping was addressed toward John Hayes. Soon after Hayes and others were afforded raucous receptions as the flood of replacements disrupted any rhythm to the end game. Most thoughts were still with O’Leary.

Scoring sequence:6 mins: Dowling try, O'Gara con 7-0; 12 mins: Priestland pen 7-3; 14 mins: O'Gara pen 10-3; 38 mins: Wallace try, O'Gara con 17-3; (half-time 17-3); 46 mins: M Roberts try, S Jones con 17-10; 55 mins: Earls try, O'Gara con 24-10; 65 mins: Leamy try 29-10.

MUNSTER:P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll (capt), A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements: P Stringer for O'Leary (12 mins), D Hurley for Warwick (48 mins), D Fogarty for Flannery, N Ronan for Wallace (both 66 mins), T Buckley for Hayes (68 mins), D Ryan for Quinlan (74 mins), B Murphy for Howlett (75 mins). Sinbinned: Earls (40-50 mins), Mafi (81 mins).

SCARLETS:D Evans; M Jones (capt), R Higgitt, J Davies, L Williams; R Priestland, M Roberts; I Thomas, M Schwalger, S Roberts, V Cooper, D Day, J Turnbull, R McCusker, D Lyons. Replacements:P John for S Roberts, M Rees for Schwalger, S Jones for Priestland (all half-time), J Edwards for Day (50-59 mins) and for Turnbull (68 mins), C Thomas for M Jones (68 mins), A Shingler for McCusker (79 mins). Not used: G Cattle. Sinbinned: M Roberts (53-63 mins).

Referee:Neil Paterson (SRU).