Newport Gwent Dragons turned the tables on Munster at a snow-hit Rodney Parade on Friday night, with a commanding 20-6 victory.
The double European champions lead at the top of the Magners League was cut to two points this weekend, as Paul Turner’s men dominated a tactical and physical battle in wintery conditions.
Head Coach, Turner couldn’t hide his satisfaction with the result as the Dragons bounced back from consecutive heavy defeats to upset the form book and send Munster home with no reward.
“To beat any Munster team you have got to dominate the contact and our kicking game and ability to keep the ball had to be spot on and it was.
“Conditions were really difficult out there, with the snow on the pitch, so we wanted to keep the ball up in the air a lot and our tactics paid off,” said Turner.
The Men of Gwent surprisingly dominated the forward contest and showed marked improvements in all areas of the field as they controlled the tempo of the match.
“We basically out Munstered them in the contact area, I thought our set-piece was very good and for them to take both props of at half-time probably said it all,” continued Turner.
Once again it was the Dragons defence which pleased the boss the most, against a typically robust and structured Irish outfit, which lacked the cutting edge to open the region’s rigid resistance.
“I said to the players after the game, even in periods when we didn’t score, we didn’t let them score it was that period that wins tight games like this.
Our one on one defence had no faults as we nilled a Munster team try wise tonight, that’s the main thing,” added Turner.
The Dragons will be hoping for a similar performance this Friday as they tackle third placed Ulster. The trip to Ravenhill has proved a successful haunting ground in recent years for Turner’s men, but the coach is under no illusions that progress is still needed to find some away form.
“We’ve got a difficult task in Ravenhill next week. It is always a great place to go with a pretty partisan Ulster support there.
We need to do same thing as tonight - set piece, kicking game and defence has to be good again. It was very difficult out there tonight with the weather, but we controlled the game getting foot holes and good launches, resulting in scoring the tries. I’m hopeful there is more to come.”
The double European champions lead at the top of the Magners League was cut to two points this weekend, as Paul Turner’s men dominated a tactical and physical battle in wintery conditions.
Head Coach, Turner couldn’t hide his satisfaction with the result as the Dragons bounced back from consecutive heavy defeats to upset the form book and send Munster home with no reward.
“To beat any Munster team you have got to dominate the contact and our kicking game and ability to keep the ball had to be spot on and it was.
“Conditions were really difficult out there, with the snow on the pitch, so we wanted to keep the ball up in the air a lot and our tactics paid off,” said Turner.
The Men of Gwent surprisingly dominated the forward contest and showed marked improvements in all areas of the field as they controlled the tempo of the match.
“We basically out Munstered them in the contact area, I thought our set-piece was very good and for them to take both props of at half-time probably said it all,” continued Turner.
Once again it was the Dragons defence which pleased the boss the most, against a typically robust and structured Irish outfit, which lacked the cutting edge to open the region’s rigid resistance.
“I said to the players after the game, even in periods when we didn’t score, we didn’t let them score it was that period that wins tight games like this.
Our one on one defence had no faults as we nilled a Munster team try wise tonight, that’s the main thing,” added Turner.
The Dragons will be hoping for a similar performance this Friday as they tackle third placed Ulster. The trip to Ravenhill has proved a successful haunting ground in recent years for Turner’s men, but the coach is under no illusions that progress is still needed to find some away form.
“We’ve got a difficult task in Ravenhill next week. It is always a great place to go with a pretty partisan Ulster support there.
We need to do same thing as tonight - set piece, kicking game and defence has to be good again. It was very difficult out there tonight with the weather, but we controlled the game getting foot holes and good launches, resulting in scoring the tries. I’m hopeful there is more to come.”
