Munster claimed a comprehensive 36-22 victory over 14-man Gloucester at Thomond Park to go top of Champions Cup Pool 2 after Castres beat Exeter.
It is two-time champions Munster’s first win of the tournament, having drawn 10-10 with Exeter Chiefs in their opener last weekend.
Tries from Mike Haley, Rhys Marshall, Joey Carbery, Sammy Arnold and Andrew Conway proved too much for Gloucester, who scored through Gerbrandt Grobler, Jason Woodward and Ben Morgan.
The men from Limerick were aided by a red card shown to Gloucester fly-half and England snub Danny Cipriani on the half-hour mark, which swayed the momentum in their favour.
Gloucester were temporarily reduced to 14 men in the 16th minute when lock Tom Savage was yellow-carded for an illegal clear-out on Munster centre Dan Goggin.
Soon after, Munster capitalised on their numerical advantage as Haley was able to benefit from the space out wide to dot down. Fly-half Joey Carbery’s kick would just drop wide.
In the 28th minute, the Cherry and Whites would be permanently reduced to 14 men as Cipriani was red-carded for a high hit on Rory Scannell, capping off a bad week for the fly-half which saw him also excluded from the England squad for the November internationals.
Four minutes later, the hosts would once again make the most of the extra man as hooker Rhys Marshall went over at the back of a well-worked driving maul. Carbery added the extras for a 15-3 lead to the home side as the sides headed in to the interval.
The hosts pulled further away ten minutes in to the second half. A well-executed set piece move from an attacking scrum on the Gloucester five metre line saw replacement scrum-half Alby Mathewson use Goggin, who popped the ball to Carbery for the finish.
Replacement Arnold was having an impact and won a penalty at the breakdown before getting himself on the try column for his side’s fourth. Carbery was instrumental in the build-up, showing a lovely behind the back pass for Darren Sweetnam in the earlier phase and providing Arnold with the assist. The fly-half added the extras for a 29-3 lead in the 57th minute.
Soon after, Gloucester hit back with the driving maul through Grobler, who dotted down against his old team. But with ten minutes to go, the home side put the result beyond doubt with Carbery once again the creator for Conway’s try.
Billy Twelvetrees would turn creator, his excellent pass finding Woodward, who would dot down for Gloucester as they clawed back to 36-15 after Twelvetrees’ conversion.
Munster would have to see out the remainder of the game with 13 men after Arnold and Stephen Archer were yellow-carded, while Morgan would score a late consolation try for the Cherry and Whites, but it would have little bearing on the 36-22 home victory in the end.
The scorers:
For Munster:
Tries: Haley, Marshall, Carbery, Arnold, Conway
Cons: Carbery 4
Pen: Carbery
Yellow Cards: Arnold, Archer
For Gloucester:
Tries: Grobler, Woodward, Morgan
Cons: Twelvetrees
Pen: Cipriani
Red Card: Cipriani
Yellow Card: Savage
The teams:
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Dan Goggin, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Darren Sweetnam, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 James Cronin
Replacements: 16 Kevin O’Byrne, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Alby Mathewson, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Sammy Arnold
Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Tom Marshall, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Freddie Clarke, 5 Ed Slater (c), 4 Tom Savage, 3 Fraser Balmain; 2 Franco Marais, 1 Josh Hohneck
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Tom Hudson
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon (France), Luc Ramos (France)
Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure (France)