Three first-half tries from Munster helped them overcome a struggling Cardiff Blues 31-10 and keep them top of the RaboDirect PRO12 table.

Munster made it seven wins out of eight while eighth place Blues have now slipped to five losses to their three wins.

Felix Jones, Damien Varley and James Cronin all went over for tries in the first half for the visitors and they led 24-3 at the interval.

Andrew Conway added a fourth try for the Irishmen after the break before Kristian Dacey pulled one back for the Blues but in the end they were comfortably second best to Rob Penney’s men.

After an evenly matched opening ten minutes, Blues fly half Simon Humberstone put the home side in front with a penalty conversion.

But the lead was short-lived and five minutes later full back Jones latched onto an inside pass from centre Casey Laulala and out-paced a lagging Blue’s defence to cross over.

21-year-old fly half JJ Hanrahan converted to put the visitors 7-3 up in front of the 6,122-strong crowd.

And Munster wasted no time in stamping their authority and scored two tries in three minutes soon after.

A powerful driving maul sucked in the Blues defence and hooker Varley broke free through the middle of the ruck to cross over.

Three minutes after Hanrahan bagged his second conversion, prop Cronin ran over for the third of the day after Munster scrum half Cathal Sheridan charged down a Humberstone clearance kick from inside the Blues 22.

Fly half Hanrahan collected from the ruck and flung the ball out wide to Cronin who was able to cross over with a three man overlap in support.

Hanrahan made it 21-3 and then added a further three to the scoreboard with a penalty conversion two minutes from the interval.

The half-time break did little to halt Munster’s ruthlessness and five minutes after the restart a slick pass from Laulala to Jones saw him burst through the defence and leave winger Andrew Conway a straight run home for try number four and Hanrahan adding the extras.

The Blues were quick to respond and bagged their first try of the day after 50 minutes.

A Blues line-out from five yards out from the visitor’s try line was driven forward and hooker Dacey bulldozed over and Humberstone converted to make it 31-10.

The remaining 20 minutes saw the Blues up the pressure but they were unable to punch through a resolute Munster defence and the scoreline remain unchanged.

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