Stander superb in big Munster win

CJ Stander produced another Man of the Match performance as Munster hammered Racing 32-7 in a rescheduled European Champions Cup match on Saturday.

Stander was at his brilliant best yet again, and on this form will be an automatic starter for the British & Lions in New Zealand later this year.

The former Bulls No 8 scored his side's second try in the 36th minute after charging down Benjamin Dambielle’s kick and then running through out wide.

That gave the Irish province an 18-0 lead and they would go into the break ahead 25-0.

The visitors scored their fourth try just before the hour mark to secure the bonus point and a win that takes them to the top of Pool 1.

Racing are last in the pool with no points from four games.

'We always keep this emotion in the back of our heads, but we’ve been working hard from pre-season onwards,' said Stander after the match. 'We have good structures, Axel [former coach Anthony Foley] left a lot of what we’re working on, how we want to play.

'Our coaches, Rassie [Erasmus], Jacques [Nienaber] , Fla [Jerry Flannery] and Felix [Jones] have got good plans and we just want to go out on the pitch and play for them.

'From a team point of view, everyone worked very hard all week. We said we’d need work-rate and to stand up for each other in this match and honour the big man as we try to do every week.

'Coming back to Paris after his death, you talk about it, the emotion of it, and it catches you again. It’s tough, you remember from last time, you get very emotional.

'You try to hide it, but it’s into you and luckily everyone’s in the same boat. I think we’ve been dealing with it quite well the last few weeks.'

Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Getty Images

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