Munster (12) 41
Tries: Warwick, Dowling 2, Leamy, Fogarty, Wallace , de Villiers Cons: O'Gara 3
Treviso (10) 10
Tries: Williams, Vilk

David Wallace is tackled by Brendan Williams and Luke McLean

Munster recovered from a poor first half to keep their Heineken Cup hopes alive by taking a bonus-point win over a battling Treviso at Thomond Park.

Tries from Brendan Williams and Andrew Vilk put Treviso 10-0 up after 24 minutes as the Munster scrum creaked.

However scores from Paul Warwick and Ian Dowling enabled Munster to take a fortunate 12-10 lead at the interval.

Denis Leamy, Denis Fogarty, David Wallace, Dowling and Jean De Villiers added second-half tries for Munster.

Munster, who went into the game on the back of successive defeats by Leinster and Northampton, exhibited early sloppiness as a threatening midfield break was spoiled by an errant O'Gara pass.

The home team's much-vaunted set-piece also misfired early on, with the Treviso front row putting props Marcus Horan and Tony Buckley under serious pressure.

The suspicion that all was not well with Munster was confirmed when Brendan Williams notched Treviso's opening try in the 15th minute.

After Williams' own chip and chase had forced a five-metre scrum, the winger ghosted past Marcus Horan and Doug Howlett to notch the most routine of tries.

Marius Goosen failed to add the extras but O'Gara was then off-target at the other end to keep Treviso 5-0 ahead.

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Munster coach Tony McGahan reacted immediately to the opening score by introducing French international and summer signing Julien Brugnaut for prop Horan.

Things went from bad to worse for Munster when England Sevens player Andrew Vilk slid over to notch Treviso's second try in the 24th minute by outpacing a pedestrian home defence after Tobias Botes' clever kick into space.

Although replacement fly-half Botes missed the conversion, the home side were in trouble at 0-10 down and badly in need of a score.

After Keith Earls had spilled possession just short of the Treviso line, Paul Warwick did register a response by notching a try in the 29th minute after Munster made numbers out wide count.

O'Gara added the conversion to cut Treviso's lead to only three points.

However, Doug Howlett had to come to Munster's rescue straight after the restart by diving to concede another five-metre scrum and it was the All Black's final involvement as he was forced off with a leg injury.

From the scrum, Treviso forced two successive penalties but the gamble of going for a third try instead of kicking for goal backfired as Munster held firm.

Then in first-half injury-time, Munster grabbed an undeserved lead as another O'Gara crosskick split the Treviso defence and enabled Ian Dowling to touch down after a spot of juggling, which got the all-clear from the video referee.

Munster's advantage was stretched to seven points two minutes after the re-start as Denis Leamy bulldozed his way over from close range.

As Treviso's brave challenge began to fade, Munster secured a bonus point in the 53rd minute as hooker Denis Fogarty touched down after a neat exchange of passes between Warwick and Alan Quinlan.

An Earls break set up David Wallace to score Munster's fifth try and Dowling then notched his second try of the day after some weak Treviso tackling.

De Villiers' late score extended the flattering margin of Munster's win.

Munster: Warwick; Howlett, Mafi, De Villiers, Earls; O'Gara, O'Leary; Horan, Fogarty, Buckley, O'Callaghan, O'Connell (capt), Quinlan, Wallace, Leamy.

Replacements: Dowling for Howlett 36, D Hurley for Earls 69, Stringer for O'Leary 66, Brugnaut for Horan 17, D Hurley for Buckley 49, O'Driscoll for O'Callaghan 66, Ronan for Quinlan 59.
Not used: Varley.

Treviso: McLean, Williams, Sgarbi, Garcia, Vilk; Goosen, Semenzato; Rizzo, Ghiraldini, Fernandez Rouyet, Pavanello (capt), Van Zyl, Vermaak, Zanni, Kingi.

Replacements: Waters for Garcia 62, Botes for Goosen 23, Filippucci for Semenzato 70, Allori for Rizzo 50, Vidal for Ghiraldini 50, Di Santo for Rouyet (50), E Pavanello for A Pavanello 68, Barbieri for van Zyl 58.

Attendance: 26,000

Referee: Jerome Garces (France).

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