Young guns give Kidney much to ponder
The Reds secured a bonus point as early as the 33rd minute as the Welsh side conceded 45 points for the second week running. Despite crossing three times themselves, the Dragons couldn’t find a fourth score that would have yielded a bonus point.
Kidney’s decision to make nine changes from the side that defeated Clermont in the Heineken Cup the previous weekend paid off handsomely, with rookies Donnacha Ryan and Denis Hurley both making serious cases for inclusion in the side for Friday’s derby showdown.
“They always have given me a selection headache, I’ve said every week that selecting this team is never easy,” Kidney said.
“This is, by and large, the team that won the first few games of the season for us, these fellas have been playing very well and have put us in the position we are. They’ve got us about 13 of the 20 points we have and that comes as no surprise to me.”
He added that the continued evidence of the side’s strength in depth was particularly pleasing: “I’m lucky we have that quality right throughout the squad but you need it to cope with injuries. I have another nine players that are hungry to play but didn’t get a go this week or last week and played in the A game on Thursday.
“We’re very fortunate, not everyone is going to be able to play all the time, we talk about the opportunities of playing for Munster and how they don’t come along very often, and fellas want to make the most of it.”
While Hurley gave a commanding performance at full-back, it was Ryan who made the biggest impression, capping his first game back from injury with a man-of-the-match performance.
The young Shannon lock may be learning his trade from three of the best in Paul O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan and Mick O’Driscoll, but he showed he can teach them a trick or two with some sumptuous off-loads out of the tackle.
His display was nearly rewarded with the game’s opening try on 10 minutes, but after he was held up just short, Peter Stringer was on hand to burrow over for a score that needed confirmation from television match official Olan Trevor.
Paul Warwick atoned for an earlier penalty miss with the conversion, but the Dragons hit back within minutes, Martyn Thomas diving over for a soft try after missed tackles from captain Anthony Foley and Alan Quinlan.
Ryan finally got his reward when he ploughed over on 22 minutes after Munster demolished a Dragons scrum depleted by the loss of second-row Adam Jones to the sin-bin.
They stretched their lead to 21-7 five minutes later when Hurley scythed through the visitors’ defence from inside his own half and found Kieran Lewis on his inside shoulder for a sublime score.
The Dragons once again responded instantly when wing Richard Mustoe left Frankie Sheahan for dead and outpaced the cover to score in the left corner.
Out-half Aled Thomas failed to improve on the score however, and Sheahan exacted revenge on 33 minutes with the bonus-point score after a trademark maul.
The best was yet to come, with the Munster pack creating a score from nothing, a score the speedsters outside them would have been proud of. Tony Buckley took three defenders with him on a burst before offloading to Ryan, who found Niall Ronan on his shoulder near halfway. The former Leinster flanker stepped out of a tackle and put Quinlan through the smallest of gaps, and prop Federico Pucciariello appeared in support to take the scoring pass for a sublime try.
Munster turned over 33-12 in front and they put themselves out of sight on 48 minutes when quick ruck ball and a neat overhead pass from Ryan put Brian Carney over in the right corner.
Both sides emptied their bench before the hour mark, with Munster looking to conserve energy while the visitors sought a bonus point of their own.
Jamie Ringer’s 58th minute try gave them hope of getting something out of the game, but it was the home side who had the last word, Warwick plucking a Thomas chip out of the air before sending replacement Rua Tipoki in under the posts.
The game ended on a sour note as Marcus Horan was sin-binned for punching, but it mattered little with attentions already being turned to the Leinster game.
With Brian O’Driscoll’s side securing a superb away win over the Ospreys the previous evening, this was just the fillip Munster needed in response. But wing Ian Dowling warned that they will not be getting carried away ahead of a tough series of games that includes sees back-to-back Heineken Cup clashes with Llanelli Scarlets.
“There’s a lot of positives to be taken from the game but we’re keeping our feet on the ground. We conceded a couple of soft tries that we’ll need to take a look at,” he said.
“Leinster are coming off the back of a great win too, not too many teams go over and beat the Ospreys so it should be a thrilling encounter on Friday.”
D Hurley; B Carney, K Lewis, L Mafi, I Dowling; P Warwick, P Stringer; F Pucciariello, F Sheahan, T Buckley; M O’Driscoll, D Ryan; A Quinlan, N Ronan, A Foley (capt).
Replacements: D Leamy for Foley, G Hurley for Stringer, D O’Callaghan for O’Driscoll (all 55), M Horan for Quinlan (61, inj), R Tipoki for Mafi (61), J Flannery for Sheahan (73)
M Thomas; R Gomer Davies, P Emerick, A Smith, R Mustoe; A Thomas, W Evans; H Gustafson, S Jones, J Corsi; A Hall, A Jones; J Ringer, R Parks, M Owen (capt).
Replacements: K Morgan for M Thomas (51), P Sidoli for Jones, A Black for Corsi, J Bearman for Owen (all 55), P Dolman for Emerick (61), Emerick for Gomer Davies (73, inj), R Lewis for Evans (76).
R Debney (RFU)
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