Graham Rowntree praises 'smart' Munster but Connacht boss Andy Friend frustrated

Graham Rowntree believes Munster have turned a corner after they gave their season a shot in the arm with a bonus-point victory over Connacht.

Munster crossed for two tries in each half as they claimed a 24-17 win at Thomond Park to move into the top eight of the BKT United Rugby Championship.

Calvin Nash and front-row trio Roman Salanoa, John Ryan and Niall Scannell all crossed the whitewash as Munster mauled their way to victory, while also producing some lovely backline moves.

Asked when was key to Munster's victory, Rowntree replied: "We were smart with the ball. Our kicking game was smart, our maul and maul defence was good.

"Our discipline is still a work-on. We are still giving teams access to our 22. But I was pleased with the win. It wasn't perfect by any means, I said that to the lads afterwards.

"They’re a good team but compared to our performance down in Galway last month, we were a lot better."

Munster’s performance was a far cry to their display at the Sportground. They went in level at half-time despite playing into a strong wind, and then hit Connacht for two tries in seven second-half minutes to put themselves on course for their third win of the season.

"There has been a lot of development," said Rowntree. "We're still learning. We’ve had more training time with the coaches, a bit more of a settled squad.

"We had a lot of moving parts last month with unavailability. We just kept hammering at what we have been doing well in training."

John Hodnett, Peter O’Mahony and Mike Haley all picked up knocks in what was another physical derby but Rowntree was hopeful that none of them were too serious, while others could return from injury against Edinburgh on Friday.

"Keith Earls might come in, Fineen Wycherley is not far