It was a positive finish to Munster's ten-week block of games as they ground out their eighth victory during that time, despite leaking an early converted try to Dragons prop Lloyd Fairbrother. A Bill Johnston penalty on the half hour mark closed the gap to 7-3 for half-time.

The second half was also rather listless with the Dragons continuing to frustrate Munster when defending in their own 22. They also did well for much of Matthew Screech's sin-binning until Johnston took a quick tap, Mike Haley hammered up close to the line and then lock Jean Kleyn was driven over for his crucial try.

Johnston missed the difficult conversion from wide on the left, and his opposite number Josh Lewis was also off target with a penalty attempt to reclaim the lead. In the end, Munster held onto their hard-earned one-point advantage and head into a two-week break still top of Conference A of the GUINNESS PRO14.



Although a well-executed Munster maul gained 15 metres inside the opening minutes, Rhodri Williams' well-timed challenge led to turnover ball for the Dragons. Ronan O'Mahony caught two early high balls, the second from an Alby Mathewson box-kick but the winger's subsequent kick beat everyone into touch inside the hosts' 22.

Arno Botha then did well to gobble up possession in front of the Munster posts, sparing full-back Haley's blushes after he was charged down by Tyler Morgan, yet the Dragons duly managed to convert their 75% share of territory into points.

Sturdy young centre Jack Dixon carried strongly twice either side of a maul in the left corner, and a few phases later, tighthead Fairbrother drove low to burrow over beside the posts, with Lewis, the eventual man-of-the-match, converting for a 7-0 lead.



As the rain continued to come down heavily, knock-ons became increasingly regular and there was a lot of back and forth from tactical kicking. O'Mahony and Dan Goggin did their best to make ground on the soggy turf, before a rare Munster visit to the opposition 22 ended with Johnston opening their account with a central penalty kick.

Munster captain Tyler Bleyendaal's radar was off with two loose kicks, the second of which had too much on it and rolled dead. Approaching the interval, Darren Sweetnam hacked through a loose Dragons pass as the men in red pressed for a late try. The front row all carried well but tighthead Stephen Archer, reaching for the whitewash, was pulled up for a double movement by TMO Dave Pearson.

It was the Dragons who got on the front foot on the resumption, aided by Nic Cudd's well-won penalty at the breakdown, before a wayward drop goal attempt from Lewis. Increasing their own attacking threat, Munster went close to scoring from a Bleyendaal kick through which neither the onrushing Sweetnam or Will Talbot-Davies could ground past the whitewash.







The Champions Cup quarter-finalists, who made 13 changes to the side that edged out Exeter Chiefs in Europe last weekend, had a series of set piece opportunities in the right corner as the Dragons leaked a series of penalties, ultimately losing Screech to the sin bin for collapsing a maul.

Knock-ons from Archer and Conor Oliver let the Welshmen off the hook, but Fineen Wycherley stole a lineout t0 keep the pressure on the home defence and Kleyn made it count near the left corner, crashing over with support from Archer.

Johnston's conversion attempt went the wrong side of the far right post, while Lewis also missed the target with a wind-affected penalty attempt as Munster remained a single point to the good. Determined to see out the result, the province were boosted by the introduction of prop Liam O'Connor who made his seasonal debut after a long-term knee injury.

Despite another poor kick from Bleyendaal, Munster showed the greater control during a tense final 10 minutes with indiscipline again costing the Dragons crucial ground. Billy Holland and replacement Kevin O'Byrne connected well at two lineouts, and a last-minute penalty for collapsing a maul at the edge of the hosts' 22 settled the issue in Munster's favour.



Giving his reaction afterwards, Munster head coach Johann van Graan said: "We're very happy with the win. We decided to just stay down in the Dragons half (in the second half), we kept pushing and pushing, and we got our rewards. They got a yellow card and conceded five penalties in a row. That won us the game.

"We knew this block would be massive. We've qualified for the Champions Cup quarter-finals and we're now back top of our Conference in the PRO14, so the guys will take a well-deserved break now to recharge their batteries. I want to make a special mention for the whole squad. I made 13 changes and all of them were enforced with the Ireland players in camp and a few injuries too.

"We knew we would have problems with cohesion, but in these periods you need everyone to get you a result and it was fantastic to get a lot of guys like Bill (Johnston) some game-time. They are the future of Munster.

"Scrum and lineout wise, I'll take that performance any day of the week. It was a tough game. but our composure in the last 10 minutes was excellent and Alby was superb in controlling the game."