Benetton Treviso 14 Munster 35: Champions Munster claimed their first RaboDirect Pro 12 away win since September with a bonus-point success at Benetton Treviso. Three tries inside the opening 25 minutes muscled Munster into a decisive 24-0 lead that they would not relinquish to move them up to third in the table.
Danny Barnes, Simon Zebo and Johne Murphy scored the early tries with Ronan O’Gara adding 15 points with his boot.
Treviso did briefly threaten a comeback, scoring twice either side of half-time when both Mick O’Driscoll and Zebo were sin-binned.
The visitors steadied, however, and grabbed the bonus point when Zebo went over for his second late on.
After suffering a shock 19-18 defeat in this fixture last year Munster quickly ensured there would be no repeat with a dominant opening half-hour.
The Irish side effectively broke open the game with two tries in the first 10 minutes.
Barnes was first over the whitewash in the third minute when he charged down a kick before collecting to score.
The New Zealand-born centre was involved again in his side’s second try five minutes later, running onto a clever kick from Zebo before perfectly timing his pass to send the young wing over.
O’Gara then landed a penalty on 18 minutes before chipping through for Murphy to score a third and put the champions out of sight at 24-0 ahead.
Treviso were handed a way back, though, when O’Driscoll saw yellow before the break and Fabio Semenzato squeezed over before Willem De Waal converted.
The Irish side were then down to 13 men shortly after the break when Zebo was also sent to the sin-bin and soon after Cornelius van Zyl touched down to help make it 24-12. But Munster steadied on the back of two O’Gara penalties before Zebo got his second in the dying stages to secure a bonus point.
