Munster got the bonus point win they wanted to lead them into that mouth-watering meeting with Leinster and also continue the good work from last week’s European victory over ASM Clermont Auvergne.
Missing the likes of Ceri Sweeney and Rhys Thomas due to their commitments with the Welsh squad this weekend, the Dragons fielded a much-changed side to the one that fell to a 45-17 defeat at the hands of London Irish seven days ago.
Paul Turner plumped for a good sprinkling of youth in his side with the 19-year-old Jamie Corsi and Hugh Gustafson (20) propping down in the front row and apart from American international Paul Emerick, the Dragons’ starting backs were all aged 25 or younger.
Munster made nine changes themselves to the team that accounted for Clermont Auvergne with the likes of Ronan O’Gara and Shaun Payne being rested, and John Hayes and David Wallace recovering from injuries.
Munster settled quickly in front of a packed-out Musgrave Park. Paul Warwick, who stood in at No.10 for O’Gara, misjudged a second-minute penalty attempt but a lightning run from Lifeimi Mafi soon raised the decibel level.
Mafi’s run was ended by a crunching hit by Dragons fullback Martyn Thomas but the 20-year-old’s sliced clearance kick some moments later helped Munster lay the platform for their opening try.
Dragons captain Michael Owen infringed a subsequent line-out maul and Munster pressed in the left corner, opting for a set piece attack which saw Donnacha Ryan stopped just short before Peter Stringer pounced to dive over from the base and chalk up try number one.
Warwick converted but Munster’s joy was short-lived as a superb angled run from Thomas saw the youngster collect a pass from Owen and hare over for a well-taken 16th-minute try, shrugging off tackles from Alan Quinlan and Anthony Foley as he cut through for his third touchdown in seven games.
Aled Thomas landed the conversion to tie up the score, however the Dragons could never get the forward platform to press the hosts who thrived off their solid scrum and line-out.
The most telling period of the match came midway through the opening half. The Dragons had lock Adam Jones sin-binned for repeated ruck infringements and Munster took full advantage to score two converted tries while the visitors were down to 14 men.
The penalty after Jones’s departure saw Munster opt for a scrum and young lock Ryan, who followed up on a Foley pick and drive effort, managed to muscle over off the second phase.
Munster then went 21-7 in front with arguably the try of the night. Tony Buckley made his presence felt in midfield before Declan Kidney’s men switched play out to the right where fullback Denis Hurley made a great gain with a powerful hand-off and jinking run.
Centre Kieran Lewis was up on Hurley’s shoulder to take the pass and race over for his first try since his summer move from Leinster.
The Dragons wasted little time in replying. They cancelled out Lewis’s effort with a fine try of their own, three minutes later. It came out of nothing as Dragons skipper Owen looked to have lost possession in midfield.
Nevertheless, Richard Mustoe got onto the ball, 40 metres out, and the Bridgend-born winger managed to scythe his way through and beat Brian Carney to make the left corner for a lovely opportunistic try.
Fly half Thomas missed the conversion and Munster tellingly found an extra gear to move 33-12 ahead before the interval. First, hooker Frankie Sheahan scored off a traditional line-out maul from the men in red, while his front row colleague Federico Pucciariello took an offload from Quinlan to finish off another well carved-out score in the 37th-minute.
Armed with the bonus point, Munster had a licence to thrill in the second half but despite a sixth try from Carney, after good work from Niall Ronan and man-of-the-match Ryan, the Irish province could only add one more touchdown through replacement centre Rua Tipoki.
The Dragons gained some decent territory after they leaked that try to Carney and with replacements Peter Sidoli and Joe Bearman impressing, the Welshmen got a deserved third try when flanker Jamie Ringer peeled off a ruck and muscled over from close range.
With a losing bonus point in their sights, the Dragons looked like they might take something out of the game but with both coaches emptying their benches and some players having to operate out of position, the game had a disappointingly flat finish.
There was little in the way of open play in the closing half-hour with both packs slugging it out for possession and some needle crept into the game.
After Tipoki had profited from Warwick’s charge down of a Thomas chip kick to score the game’s tenth and final try, Munster had replacement prop Marcus Horan sin-binned for fighting in injury-time.
Yet there was no doubt who was landing the knock-out blows on the scoreboard as Munster confidently played their way into title contention.
target=_blank>Click Here for a Statistical Match Report from the Munster v Newport Gwent Dragons match at Musgrave Park
