United Rugby Championship: Munster start title defence with 34-21 win over Sharks

Diarmuid Barron runs in for Munster's second try against Sharks in Limerick

URC champions Munster began the new campaign with a comfortable 34-21 victory over Sharks at Thomond Park.

Edwin Edogbo and Diarmuid Barron went over for the hosts but Sharks hit back with a Werner Kok try.

Antoine Frisch touched down to leave Munster 21-7 in front at the break before Rohan Janse van Rensburg scored a second try for the South Africans.

Tries from Andrew Conway and Ethan Coughlan sealed the win before Aphelele Fassie's late consolation try.

It took 21 minutes for the first score of the game to arrive after a tight and at times error-strewn start in Limerick.

Sharks went closest to a try with Cameron Wright denied by Shane Daly's crucial tackle before a charging Ntuthuko Mchuna was held up on the line.

Munster finally put a number of phases together and it ended with Edogbo stretching out to score his first try for the Irish side, with Joey Carbery adding the extras.

Munster full-back Shane Daly catches the high ball in Saturday's league win over Sharks

The lead was doubled six minutes later as Alex Kendellan burst through before passing for hooker Barron to run unopposed for a converted try.

The visitors fought back as Kok dived in at the corner after being sent through by Curwin Bosch, who added the conversion.

Munster responded by registering their third try in the dying seconds of the first half as Bosch kicked through and a lucky bounce of the ball saw it fall perfectly for him to touch down.

Carbery was accurate again with the conversion to give Munster a healthy advantage at the interval.

The fly-half set Munster on their way with a penalty before Sharks went over for their second try - Daly let a long kick upfield go out of play, forgetting that it was a 50:22.

Sharks moved the line-out ball to Jansen van Rensberg and he scampered low and over with Bosche converting.

Munster capitalised on a yellow card for Wright - for a high tackle on Daly - by piling on the pressure before Alex Nankivell threw the ball out wide for Conway to saunter in for the bonus-point try.

Carbery converted but missed the next one after Coughlan collected Frisch's off-load before sprinting down the corner and into the corner.

Fassie timed his run perfectly to meet the kick-through and touch down in the final seconds with Bosche's conversion finishing the match.

Munster: Daly; Conway, Frisch, Scannell, Nash; Carbery, Coughlan; Wycherley, Barron, Archer; Edogbo, Wycherley; O'Donoghue, Kendellen, Coombes.

Replacements: Buckley, K Ryan, J Ryan, Ahern, Gleeson, Cronin, Nankivell, McCarthy.

Sharks: Chamberlain, Kok, Koster, F Venter, Potgieter, Bosch, Wright; Mchunu, Van Vuuren, Oosthuizen, Van Heerden, Hugo, J Venter, Buthelezi, Cronje.

Replacements: Jooste, Blevler, Jacobs, Tshituka, Notshe, Mkhabela, Janse van Rensburg, Fassie.