Munster are back on top as Kleyn’s try sees off Dragons
VISITING Munster returned to the Guinness Pro14 Conference A summit after defeating the Dragons in a low-key clash at Rodney Parade.
The Dragons led 7-3 at halftime thanks to a try from tighthead prop Lloyd Fairbrother, which Josh Lewis converted, against a Bill Johnston penalty for Munster.
But an unconverted try by lock Jean Kleyn, the only score of the second period, saw the Reds home.
In a contest ruined by the conditions, Dragons had the better of it in terms of territory before the break as Munster, with 13 changes from the team which beat Exeter 9-7 in the Champions Cup last weekend and 11 of those away with the Irish Six Nations squad, lacked coherence.
After falling 7-0 behind, Munster began to click as half-time approached. Johnston booted a 26-metre penalty to reduce the arrears and with scrum-half Alby Mathewson in the thick of it, referee Ben Blain went to the video ref when lock Billy Holland drove over but did not award Munster the try.
Johann van Graan’s men upped the pressure on the restart and the Welshmen gave away several penalties before Matthew Screech was sin-binned for pulling down a ruck.
But the Irish province could not make the most of their advantage, Kleyn – one of the two survivors from last week’s European game – dropping the ball in the process of scoring.
However, the second row made up for his error on 64 minutes by driving over from a metre. It went unconverted as Munster established a one-point lead.
The awful standard continued right to the final whistle as Munster took their 10th league win from 14 games, while it was a 10th competition reverse for the Dragons.