Munster Rugby scorch Dragons in URC clash at Thomond Park

Craig Casey scoring his first try of the night. Munster's first of 10

placeholder image — Craig Casey scoring his first try of the night. Munster's first of 10

MUNSTER RUGBY prepared for their South African mini-tour in perfect fashion this evening with a record equalling ten try, bonus point win, 64-3 win over the Dragons at Thomond Park.

The men in red fly out to the South Africa tomorrow to take on the Bulls (March 12) and the Lions (March 19), with all 5 match points in the bag thanks to two tries from Craig Casey, two from Chris Cloete, two from Jack O'Donoghue, one each Simon Zebo, Chris Farrell, Shane Daly, and John Hodnett. The ten try haul equals the total they amassed against the Isuzu Southern Kings in the 2019/2020.

Munster Rugby opened the scoring with a 10th minute try from Irish scrum half Craig Casey, working well off of an attacking maul. The conversion was kicked by Jack Crowley to make it 7-0 early on, in the evening sun.

The visitors responded with a penalty from the boot of Sam Davies in the 17th minute after Munster were adjudged to have not rolled away in front of the posts.

Munster didn't take long to extend their lead further however as the former Shannon number 9, Casey, scored his second try of the evening after 23 minutes, following some excellent work by his forward pack. Casey dived over from a yard out to send Munster into a 12-3 lead, before Crowley was on hand to set up Munster for a 14-3 lead.

Seconds later Waterford's Jack O'Donoghue scored his side's third try, finishing off a length of the field score, being put away in the end by Mike Haley to score. Crowley added another conversion to make it 21-3 after just 26 minutes. Munster were ripping the Dragons to shreds at this point, highlighting why the Welsh side have only won one game of their ten played this season.

The bonus point try was in the bag before half time as Chris Cloete crossed for a five pointer in the 37th minute, following an initial line break by John Ryan. The South African back row was on hand, right in the corner, to make it four tries and take Munster into a 26-3 lead after just 37 minutes. Crowley, striking the ball beautifully, continued his 100% record with another conversion from the sideline. The score, as the half time whistle blew was 28-3 in favour of Munster.

The opening ten minutes of the second half were, as to be expected, dull, seeing as Munster had already won the game.

As if to mirror the game as a whole, Munster's fifth try came in weird circumstances. Craig Casey took a quick tap from five metres out and put Simon Zebo in for his try. All the while not one single Dragons player moved. It was as if they had been frozen in time. (Jack Crowley missed that conversion)

Just like buses, Munster's tries were coming in twos. Seconds after Zebo's effort Chris Farrell was on the shoulder of Mike Haley to score his side's sixth try, running through the hapless Dragons defence. This time Crowley did not make an error and brought up the 40 for Munster.

Mike Haley was to turn provider once more in the 58th minute as he brought up Munster's seventh try. A flowing move from left to right saw Goggin carry, Crowley off loading to Coombes before the Cork man linked with Haley to send Shane Daly away. Crowley missing the conversion kick mattered little as Munster were not 45-3 ahead.

Speaking of things happening in twos, Chris Cloete scored his second try of the night and Munster's eight in the 68th minute after a brilliant offload from Shane Daly as Munster played under penalty advantage. The ease at which they scored this try was another highlight of how well Munster were playing, but also how poor the Dragons really are, that score bringing up the 50 points for the home side. Ben Healy, who was on for Mike Haley at full back, missed the touchline conversion.

The ninth try of the night came from John Hodnett, this time from a clean line break from Rory Scannell, off of a set piece, before the Dolphin man put his fellow Cork star away for five points. The extras were this time kicked by Healy.

The perfect 10 and record equalling amount of tries for Munster in a Celtic League (Pro14 game) came in the 74th minute as Hodnett and Daly worked well to send captain O'Donoghue away. Once the conversion went over it was a total of 64 not out for Munster with three minutes to go.

Try Scorers Munster: Casey (9+22) O'Donoghue (24+73) Cloete (36+63) Zebo (52) Farrell (54) Daly (57) Hodnett (73)

Munster: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Chris Farrell, Dan Goggin, Simon Zebo; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (C), Chris Cloete, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer, Alex Kendellen, John Hodnett, Neil Cronin, Ben Healy, Rory Scannell.

Dragons: Jordan Williams, Will Talbot-Davies, Jack Dixon, Aneurin Owen, Rio Dyer, Sam Davies, Rhodri Williams; Greg Bateman, Taylor Davies, Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, Joe Maksymiw, Harri Keddie (c), Ollie Griffiths, Aaron Wainwright

Replacements: Ellis Shipp, Aki Seiuli, Mesake Doge, Huw Taylor, Ben Fry, Dan Baker, Lewis Jones, Josh Lewis