MUNSTER RETURNED TO the top of Conference A of the Guinness PRO14 with an 8-7 victory over the Dragons at a rain-lashed Rodney Parade.
Johan van Graan’s side have been on a fine run of form since their defeat to Ulster before Christmas, but they were given a real scare in Newport as they won by the narrowest of margins.
Jean Kleyn’s try cancelled out a Lloyd Fairbrother effort and Bill Johnston’s penalty responded to a home conversion from Josh Lewis.
Horrendous conditions meant this was never going to be a classic and Munster turned around 7-3 down and with work to do.
Heavy rain and a poor surface meant the kicking battle was vital and the Dragons edged it early on as they forced Munster to spend long periods in their own half. Mike Haley had a clearance blocked by Tyler Moragn and although danger was averted, the hosts were soon ahead.
Lewis kicked to the corner and a driving line-out ended with prop Fairbrother driven over the line a handful of phases later. Fly-half Lewis added the conversion. The weather, if anything, worsened.
Munster hadn’t got going, but they did wake up before the break. Jared Rosser was fortunate to escape a yellow card for upending Johnston, but the Munster out-half did boot a penalty.
The visitors had now woken up and with the clock dead at the end of the first period, Stephen Archer was driven over the line. Referee Ben Blain – on his PRO14 debut – consulted TMO Dave Pearson who could find no clear proof of a score.
Lewis skewed a drop goal effort along the ground when the game resumed. In fairness to him the conditions were hardly ideal to pull off such a skill.
Munster, like the Dragons had before the break, then stamped their mark.
Darren Sweetnam then chased a kick through for Munster though he was unable to get downward pressure on the ball as Will Talbot-Davies got to it first.
It nonetheless gave Munster prime field position where – surprisingly given the weather – they turned down kickable penalties in favour of the corner. Repeated line-out surges saw Matthew Screech sin-binned for dragging down the maul and when the set-piece was reset, Muster somehow contrived to spill the ball with the line gaping. It was wastefulness of the highest order.
Still, Munster were a man up and at last they broke through with Kleyn emerging from a pile of bodies in the corner. His score put Munster ahead for the first time, but Johnston couldn’t convert.
Lewis then missed a prime opportunity to put the Dragons back ahead. His penalty skewed wide and simply put it was one he should have kicked.
The final 10 minutes turned into an absolute dogfight. Dragons – who only made on substitution while Munster emptied their bench – attacked relentlessly.
Munster put up the drawbridge as they – and Sweetnam in particular – defended grittily. The home fans meanwhile vented their fury at Blain, but their anger was misplaced.
DRAGONS: J Williams, Rosser, Morgan, Dixon, Talbot-Davies; Lewis, R Williams; Harris, Hibbard, Fairbrother, J Davies (Evans 64), Screech, Keddie, Cudd, Griffiths
Replacements not used: Lawrence, Fawcett, Suter, Basham, R Davies, Tovey, Kirchner
MUNSTER: Haley (Nash 64), Sweetnam, Goggin, Bleyendaal (capt), O’Mahony; Johnston (Taute 64), Mathewson; Loughman (O’Connor 66), Marshall (O’Byrne 59), Archer (Parker 66), Kleyn (O’Shea 71), Holland, Wycherley, Oliver (Coombes 65), Botha
Replacement not used: Cronin
Referee: Ben Blain (SRU)
Attendance: 5,031
Very poor performance in a very poor game in very poor conditions but we got the result. Tis a grand thing to win a game when playing that badly. It wasn’t even a game for the purists in the end.
@Jim Demps: I suppose congratulations are in order. It’s not often Munster win away in Wales. Or away anywhere really. It’s easy to see why they haven’t won a trophy in years
@bread of heaven: Great story. You should tell that at house parties.
@borgig: era you’re better off blocking Bread of Heaven. He’s nothing but a troll
@bread of heaven: You’re a dope
@bread of heaven: I think you were meant to post that under the name Jim Demps. You forgot to change your account. So you’re the Irish Pain, bread of heaven and Jim Demps.
@bread of heaven: whoops!
@Garrett Kelleher: Real split personality, good call out
@Garrett Kelleher: I’d say you’re onto something there. There’s only one me though, the other two lads certainly look like they want to be me mind.
@bread of heaven: I didn’t think welsh rugby supporters were allowed to say anything in public after their showing in the champions and challenge cup.
@Martin Quinn: correct all around. Wasnt a spectacular of a weekend by any means. There are years those wins and draw would be greatly appreciated but that weekend looked dour. I thought Scarlets deserved a win but they just seemed incapable of turning possession and territory into points in that 1st half. Leinster weren’t great either but just seemed to get those points. Maybe some luck involved too.
@Pseud O’Nym: haha, great handle, you have the perfect name for calling out that mix up by the bread of heaven póster whoever they are.
That was an abysmal rugby match. Both sides were very poor to say the least, granted in dire conditions. A win is a win tho and no injuries were picked up it seems. No real stand out performances, only one who impressed me was Wycherly he has a very bright future.
Like last night an ugly win is still a win. Sign of champions winning without your best players.
14 points conceded in last 2 matches not a bad way of looking at it
@Folíní: one of them are the dragons
@Eoin Murphy: no fly’s on you
Terrible game of rugby. Both sides Kicked the leather off it. But a win is a win I suppose.
@Luke walkee: agreed. Poor tactics in the conditions. More offloads and through the backs the better option.
@Leo Erah: I’d say the weather conditions and the number of changes dictated the limited game plan.
@Leo Erah: In those conditions? No you’re almost better off without the ball in that type of a game.
Brutal match, 4 points though so happy!
We were poor. Weather is not an excuse, toothless & brainless in attack and Dragon’s cut through us with impunity when the urge took them. Having said that, they were lucky to get away with just the one yellow. Bleyendaal… Thank flip he was at 12, as any time he put boot to ball it went terribly wrong. We’ll take it, but depth is not as great as thought.
@Tomás O’Loughlin: Cut through with impunity? They barely ran the ball. They kicked in in behind us all day all right. Have a look at the stats. Munster beat them soundly every part of the game. Meters made, carries, turnovers, passes, tackles…..
@Mark Wallace: They made easy ground every single time they ran the ball. It took us 5 attempts to ground our try. Were you watching a different match?
@Tomás O’Loughlin: Yeah! Best position for Bleyendaal is the bench. Scrappy game could have gone either way.
Both teams made around 90% of their tackles. There was 118 kicks and 37 lineouts…. Not the most entertaining of games.
Another awful performance… victories masking how poor they’re actually playing… they’ll be found fairly soon when they meet decent opposition… can’t fault the players for attitude effort and workrate they’re just very poorly coached… jones has to go come the summer… van graan doesn’t seem to be improving them either like friend or mcfarland are with their privinces… be interesting to see the wagebill of todays munster team against the one lining out for the dragons huge difference id say
@Tomas Lyons: In the quarters finals in Europe, top of the conference in the Pro14 and second to Leinster overall. Yeah they’re awful.
@Mark Wallace: ya we’ll see come the end of the season what trophies we’ve won… not saying theyre awful but their not moving onto the level u need to be to win silverware…. we’ll win the same as we did for the last few yrs zilch!!!
@Tomas Lyons: ‘victories mask how poor they are playing’? Sorry?? Surely the main aim is victory?
a penance of a game …weather , players, tactics and officials were dire. only one to come out with a modicum of credit was sweetnam. I really think he could turn out to be a fine player. finding it tough to get a look in for the bigger games …may open up for him if Conway was considered at 15 but haley has been doing well there too.
Yeah sweetman looked sharp. I like the way he was tackled in the air but by no means looked for the penalty.
I dont get the Bleyendaal at 12 experiment. Sam Arnold and Jaco Taute are both fine 12s if we are without Rory Scannell.
Badly managed, Dragons played the conditions much better, VG clearly doesn’t understand this type of game, same of TB who really should never have been made captain, decision making was terrible. This overheard comment sums it up… “clearly they never played a derby match on the back pitch in Thomond on a winters evening”