Williams impressive as Munster earn bonus
A WINNING start with a bonus for Munster, but they were pushed all way by a spirited Coventry side, whose forwards led a rousing second-half comeback at the Butts Park Arena.
Munster went ahead inside three minutes, returning a long kick with interest as Felix Jones and Danny Barnes exposed the home cover down the right flank and found impressive scrum-half Duncan Williams to touch down.
The visitors grabbed their second unconverted try on 13 minutes, No 8 James Coughlan going over from close range, before home fly-half Joe Carlisle made no mistake with a penalty from just over 30 metres.
Coventry were growing in confidence as the half progressed, and Carlisle audaciously jinked his way out of his own '22' to gain 40 metres, only to then miss a 35-metre penalty when the visitors again went offside.
Munster got their third try when fly-half Declan Cussack sliced open the home defence from halfway, leaving Tom Gleeson with a 30-metre run-in with support outside if needed.
The winners increased their lead within two minutes of the restart as Coventry lost control of the ball at a line-out 30 metres out and Duncan Williams combined with Scott Deasy to set up lock Ian Nagle for the fourth try.
But Coventry's forwards were rewarded for their efforts when they drove from a five-metre line-out for prop Scott Roberts to touch down an unconverted try and then hooker Joe Merrigan secured the bonus point.
Coventry -- O Winter; S Frewin, J Lewis, C Lewis, W Hurrell; J Carlisle, M Walls; K Davis, R McMillan, R Dugard; A Brenton capt, L McGowan; S Herrington, R Bignell, H Venter. Reps: J Merrigan, S Roberts, J Hall, B Dechartres, D Locke, J Thomas, P MacKenzie.
Munster -- F Jones; D Barnes, T Gleeson, S Deasy, D Hurley; D Cusack, D Williams; J Brugnaut, M Sherry, S Archer; I Nagle, D Foley; N Williams, N Ronan, J Coughlan (capt). Replacements: S Henry, D Kilcoyne, D O'Callaghan, P O'Mahony, A Burke, P Rowley, S Zebo.
Ref -- D Bodilly (Wales RFU).
Ulster Ravens also opened up their campaign with a bonus-point win when they beat the Bedford Blues at Ravenhill.
Winger Tommy Seymour got the game's opening try when he won the race to get the touch down from a Paul Marshall grubber kick -- Niall O'Connor converted.
Prop Declan Fitzpatrick extended the Ulster lead on 12 minutes when he went over from close range with O'Connor again converting.
Uwinger Chris Cochrane scored the third try as he finished of a slick move. A try seven minutes from the break from hooker Andi Kyriacou wrapped up the home side's bonus point as he was driven over by the pack, with the impressive O'Connor converting once more as the Ravens romped home.
ULSTER -- C Schifcoske; T Seymour, J Shiels, I Whitten, C Cochrane; N O'Connor, P Marshall; B Young, A Kyriacou, D Fitzpatrick, D Tuohy, N McComb, D Pollock, W Faloon, T Horua. Reps: N Brady, P McAllister, E O'Donoghue, C Henry, C Willis, I Humphreys, J Smith.
BEDFORD BLUES -- B Burke; O Dodge, J Knight, M Dorrian, I Davey; B Davies, I Vass; A Brown, C Locke, D Seal, M Howard, J Harlock, G Gillanders, C Brightwell, C Goodman. Reps: D Richmond, P Boulton, A Rae, B Lewitt, W Chudley, L Roberts, D Taylor.
Ref -- L Roberts.
Irish Independent
