Munster win at Dragons to maintain unbeaten start

Adam Kyriacou

Conference B leaders Munster maintained their unbeaten record in this season’s PRO14 as they beat the Dragons 28-16 at Rodney Parade on Sunday.

Two tries from full-back Matt Gallagher and one by wing Calvin Nash, along with three penalties and two conversions from fly-half JJ Hanrahan, were enough to keep Munster top of the pile.

The home side’s points came from fly-half Sam Davies with a try and two penalties, plus a try from lock Matthew Screech on his 50th appearance for the Welsh region.

The Dragons were briefly ahead when Davies landed an early penalty but, from then on, Munster dominated vast periods of the game.

The Irishmen, who had beaten Cardiff Blues 38-27 the previous week, put the home side under pressure for the opening 25 minutes and notched up 18 points in the process.

Hanrahan booted a simple penalty from 30 metres out to level matters before Gallagher was put away by flanker John Hodnett with a slight of hand in the right corner. It came a few moments after a blistering dash into the Dragons 22 from scrum-half Craig Casey.

Another Hanrahan penalty and a conversion of Nash’s touchdown, which came when wing Darren Sweetnam caught a kick to the left and popped the pass to his team-mate, had Munster well clear.

But the Dragons, who had won one of their three Conference A matches this season, against Italians Zebre, found something in their locker and managed a touchdown before half-time.

Captain Williams, with a penalty advantage, lifted a kick close to the Munster line over the defence. Lewis challenged Hanrahan for the ball but, when it ran loose inside the Irish try area, Davies pounced.

A second Davies penalty, conceded 25 metres out by Munster number eight Gavin Coombes who was deliberately offside, chipped the Dragons deficit down to seven points.

But Munster increased their lead again when Hanrahan booted a penalty, seconds after a skilful pass behind his back from hooker Kevin O’Byrne to Nash.

Sweetnam thought he had scored twice only for both his touchdowns to be ruled out by TMO Jon Mason for infringements.

Munster’s relentless possession and territorial advantage, coupled with the Dragons errors when they had a foothold in the opposition half, saw the Irishmen comfortably keep the home side at bay.

Finally, Munster crossed for a third try which sealed the match as attacking line-out ball was whisked across the back division. Casey, Hanrahan and centre Damian de Allende put Gallagher in for his second of the match.

Screech’s last-minute try was nothing more than a consolation for the beaten Dragons.

Elsewhere, Edinburgh finally got a victory at the fourth attempt in the PRO14 as they edged out Scarlets 6-3 in a hard-fought encounter at Parc y Scarlets.

A day on from Scotland’s 14-10 Six Nations win over Wales on the same ground, two Jaco van der Walt penalties earned last season’s semi-finalists a narrow victory against a home side reduced to 14 men on the hour mark when Josh Helps was sent off.

The horrendous conditions as the last throes of Storm Aiden blew through Llanelli dictated it was going to be tight and error-strewn game and the ball rarely went beyond the clutches of the first and second runners from the set-pieces and rucks.

Edinburgh came into the game missing six internationals and then lost three players through injury in the opening 19 minutes.

One of the changes saw WP Nel come into the front-row on the tight head and cause considerable unrest to the home scrum.

The damage he created forced Scarlets coach Glenn Delaney to haul off loosehead prop Phil Price before half-time and send on returning Wales forward Rob Evans to try to stop the rot.

If the first quarter was a sounding out process, the second saw the visitors come more into the game via their increasingly dominant scrum.

As the penalty count crept up, so Edinburgh began to dominate territory and keep the Scarlets under pressure.

The home side’s best chance in the first half came when Tyler Morgan finally found an edge after 22 minutes, but his pass to Johnny McNicholl hit the deck. That summed up the night.

The first points of the game came with the last kick of the half when Van der Walt kicked a simple penalty from in front of the home posts. It was nothing less than Edinburgh deserved for their pressure, but it could have been so much more.

A series of penalties and free kicks conceded by Scarlets enabled Edinburgh to get a strong foot hold in the 22.

They opted for a scrum rather than line-out five metres out from the home line and got up to, and seemingly over, it after five driving phases.

Referee Chris Busby indicated a try to Nel, but then went to the TMO to check. He spotted a dropped ball and the try was ruled out and changed to the penalty that Van der Walt kicked.

Angus O’Brien replied 11 minutes into the second half with a 40-metre penalty this time awarded against the Edinburgh scrum, but it was not long before the Scarlets hit further problems.

Werner Kruger was sent to the sin-bin less than a minute after coming on as a front-row replacement and then Van der Walt kicked a second penalty.

Worse followed on the hour mark for the home side when Helps was sent off for a head-to-head tackle on Edinburgh wing George Taylor.

The Scarlets were held up over the line in the dying minutes, but could not find a way to conjure up a winning score.

 

Dragons