Plymouth Albion 17 Munster A 7: Tommy O'Donnell made his comeback from a knee injury last night, but Munster A lost control of their B&I Cup pool after defeat to Plymouth Albion at Brickfields.

Peter Malone’s side had plenty of experience to its name with the likes of Luke O’Dea - making his first competitive Munster appearance since January - Duncan Williams and Dave O’Callaghan all starting, but they still struggled to come to terms with the English Championship outfit in the opening half hour.

By that point the home side led by 10-0 after a Dan Mugford penalty and a converted try from Sam Matavesi saw the Devon men take control.

But six minutes from the break Ronan O’Mahony crossed for Munster A from close range after Johnny Holland had pinned the home side deep in their 22 with a well struck penalty for touch.

Munster trailed 10-7 at the break and the sin binning of Ian Nagle after 47 minutes on the advice of the touch judge did little to help their cause.

And just as Nagle returned Albion bagged a second try through Tom Bowen, which former Munster outhalf Declan Cusack converted for a 17-7 advantage as the home side held out late on to deny Munster A a losing bonus point.

PLYMOUTH ALBION: B Woods; T Bowen, H Stevens, P Nonu, J Davis; D Mugford, R Cushion (capt); T Harrison, L Cowan-Dickie, L Fairbrother; I Ascroft-Leigh, B Beukeboom; S-M Stephen, S Matavesi, H Stupple. Replacements: M Crumpton for Cowan-Dickie (38 mins); D Williams for Ascroft-Leigh h-t, D Cusack for Mugford ; B Rogers for Harrison(all 52 mins); D Morton for Fairbrother (61 mins); T Howley-Berridge for Nonu (65 mins).
MUNSTER A: R Scannell; L O'Dea, C Bohane, I Dineen, R O'Mahony; J Holland, D Williams; A Cotter, N Scannell (capt), J Ryan; D Foley, I Nagle; Dave O'Callaghan, R Murphy, S Buckley. Replacement: T O'Donnell for Murphy (52 mins).