Munster secured a hard fought, bonus point victory over Zebre in the United Rugby Championship. Johann van Graan’s side ran in five tries courtesy of Jack O’Donoghue, Dan Goggin, Josh Wycherley, Fineen Wycherley and Diarmuid Barron to seal the 34-17 win for the visitors.

The Thomond Park outfit began the game in a slow manner with Zebre dominating the majority of possession in the opening minutes.

Munster’s Jake Flannery was replaced by Jack Crowley temporarily who did give Munster the lead with a penalty just inside the Zebre half.

After just over twenty minutes on the clock, John Hodnett kicked his side into gear with a brilliant line break from inside his own half, onto the Zebre 22 metre line. Jack Crowley then released Liam Coombes who burst through the attempted Zebre tackles, before offloading to captain, Jack O’Donoghue to score his fifth try of the season.

The visitors scored their second of the affair through Dan Goggin who ran a superb line through the Zebre defence before diving underneath the posts to increase their advantage.

Fineen Wycherly was next to get onto the scoresheet with an explosive try from close range after Munster’s constant pressure on the Zebre defence.

On the cusp of half time, Jake Flannery’s wayward pass was intercepted by Erich Cronje who raced through and over the try line to find his side’s opening score of the game.

The try for Zebre before the interval gave the Italian outfit a boost and dominated the first twenty minutes of the second half. Tim O’Malley added an extra three points to his side’s tally.

Zebre dominated possession up until the mid-point of the half, but it was Munster who struck again courtesy of substitute Josh Wycherley who powered home from close range to seal the bonus point.

With just under ten minutes remaining, Munster opted for a maul from a lineout inside the Zebre 22. Diarmuid Barron dived over the try line in the corner to score his side’s fifth and final try of the evening.

Zebre were rewarded for their efforts with a second try of the game in the final play when full back Junior Laloifi dived beneath the posts to reduce the deficit.