Match Centre: Benetton Treviso 16-18 Munster

Benetton Treviso 16-18 Munster, Stadio Comunale di Monigo
Scorecard

Replacement JJ Hanrahan scored the decisive drop goal in the added minutes as Munster edged out Benetton Treviso 18-16 in their Pro14 clash at Stadio Comunale di Monigo.

This is Munster's ninth win from 11 games as they consolidate their top position in Conference B while Benetton are languishing at the bottom after losing all their 10 matches.

It took Munster just two minutes to get the first points on board after Mike Haley kicked from the corner as Darren Sweetnam went past Benetton full-back Jayden Hayward for the opening try.

Ben Healy missed the conversion but managed to get it right in the 11th minute when Liam Coombs intercepted a long pass and sent Nick McCarthy and eventually Niall Scannell touched down making the scoreline 0-12.

Benetton were reduced to 14-men temporarily with Marco Riccioni sin-binned in the 24th minute a shoulder in the tackle but despite the setback the Italians fought back with Joaquin Riera brushing away a tackle from Sweetnam allowing winger Angelo Esposito to dot down.

Tommaso Allan missed the conversion but kicked back to back penalties as Benetton ended the first half trailing by 11-12.

Benetton continued to attack in the second half but Munster managed well not to concede a point before Ben Healy with a three-pointer in the 57th minute stretched the visitors' lead to four points.

As the final 10 minutes kicked-off, Leonardo Sarto went past Haley and Dan Goggin to score for an unconverted try that took them to a one-point lead before Hanrahan with his heroics in the added minutes sealed a thrilling two-point win for the Irish side.

Team line-up:

Benetton: Hayward; Esposito, Riera, Brex, Benvenuti; Allan, Braley; Gallo, Baravalle, Riccioni, Herbst, Ruzza, Barbini, Zuliani, Halafihi.

Reserves: Els, Quaglio, Pasquali, Snyman, Pettinelli, Sgarbi, Petrozzi, Sarto.

Munster: Haley, L Coombes, Goggin, R Scannell, Sweetnam; Healy, McCarthy; J Wycherley, N Scannell, Salanoa, F Wycherley, Holland; O'Donoghue, Cloete, G Coombes.

Reserves: O'Byrne, Loughman, Archer, Ahern, O'Donnell, Patterson, Hanrahan, de Allende.