Late Butler kick denies Dragons

Battling Dragons were denied by a late penalty from Tony Butler as Munster edged a closely-fought BKT United Rugby Championship clash played out in horrendous conditions at Virgin Media Park in Cork.

In testing conditions and torrential rain, it was Dragons who used the strong wind to secure a half-time lead with hooker Brodie Coghlan crashing over.

But a disallowed try from Che Hope before the break proved a pivotal moment as the hosts took the reprieve to fight back before the interval and then use the conditions in the second period.

David Richards scored after brilliance from Tinus de Beer as Dragons looked to pull clear, but a quickfire double from Gavin Coombes hauled Munster back going into the final ten minutes.

And Butler slotted a late penalty as Dragons were left to secure a more than deserved losing bonus point.

Munster had not lost at Virgin Media Park on thirteen previous occasions against the Men of Gwent – with just one loss at the venue since 2019.

But they were given an almighty scare as Dragons came close to breaking the long run without a win on the road in the league.

Boss Filo Tiatia made three changes to his starting line-up with Rodrigo Martinez, Levi Douglas and Harry Beddall all called up.

And it was a high tackle on Beddall that gave Dragons a first opportunity to apply pressure but Munster held firm on a saturated artificial pitch.

The swirling wind was causing both teams issues with Wainwright showing good footwork to make yards before a penalty for hands in the ruck gave O’Brien a shot at goal that he drilled over.

A booming kick from O’Brien continued to show the power of the wind and with field position a driving maul won Dragons two penalties that O’Brien popped to the corner. The second drive resulted in Coghlan crashing over with his forwards around him for the opening try.

However, having just scored, Beddall was yellow carded for taking the man in the air and the home side sensed the chance to strike. But a brilliant penalty was secured by Keddie on the floor.

A scrappy period at the midpoint of the half, with driving rain crashing across the field, saw scrum resets and knock-ons as Dragons continued to play solid wet weather rugby.

A penalty for not rolling away, as Beddall returned to the field, gave O’Brien the chance to add to the lead and he slotted three more.

A second try seemed to arrive when stripped ball from Beddall launched an attack and a kick ahead from Daid Richards saw Hope on the support touch down. But the TMO chalked it off for a knee on the floor before the strip.

The huge reprieve gave Munster a rare attacking platform and when they went to the corner and lineout, they punched it up close before they found a way over through Jean Kleyn to cut the lead to 13-7.

Dragons were playing into the eye of the storm in the second half and Munster applied early pressure through the maul only for the visitors to rip the ball and break from deep through Dyer.

Seb Davies returned for the final half hour before a brilliant second score as Tinus de Beer superbly collected his own kick into space and then found Richards on his shoulder to score to open up a 20-7 lead.

A superb 50:22 from Ethan Coughlan gave Munster a five-metre lineout and they built on his moment of magic to hit back with Gavin Coombes awarded the score by the TMO.

Cai Evans was introduced with just over 20 minutes to go, with O’Brien switching to fly half, but relentless home pressure finally cracked resilient defence as Coombes grabbed his second.

Dragons needed a massive final ten under huge pressure as Munster continued to dominate the second half in terms of territory.

A penalty from Butler with five minutes left saw Munster take the lead for the first time in the game.

Dragons looked to land one more blow from deep and Burrows came close to a line break before a 50:22 from Haley saw Munster go once more and Gleeson only held up by superb goal line defence.

Timeline:

11m O’Brien p 0-3

17m Coghlan t O’Brien c 0-10

30m O’Brien p 0-13

39m Kleyn t Burler c 7-13

53m Richards t O’Brien c 7-20

57m Coombes t 12-20

65m Coombes t Butler c 19-20

75m Butler p 22-20

Munster Rugby: Mike Haley; Thaakir Abrahams, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly; Tony Butler, Ethan Coughlan; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Michael Ala’alatoa; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Seán Edogbo, Ruadhán Quinn, Brian Gleeson.

Replacements: Lee Barron, Josh Wycherley, Oli Jager, Evan O’Connell, Gavin Coombes, Paddy Patterson, Jack O’Donoghue, Diarmuid Kilgallen

Dragons RFC: Angus O’Brien, David Richards, Fine Inisi, Aneurin Owen, Rio Dyer, Tinus de Beer (Evans 59), Che Hope (Williams 67); Rodrigo Martinez (Morris 76), Brodie Coghlan (Burrows 66), Robert Hunt (Dlamini 76), Levi Douglas (Davies 50), Ben Carter, Harri Keddie (Lewis-Hughes 61), Harry Beddall (Ackerman 79), Aaron Wainwright

Replacements: Oli Burrows, Jordan Morris, Cebo Dlamini, Seb Davies, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Rhodri Williams, Harri Ackerman, Cai Evans

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU, 25th game)

Attendance: 8,422