HIGHLIGHTS | Munster’s woes continue as they suffer second consecutive defeat in the URC

Graham Rowntree is yet to lead his side to victory since his appointment earlier this year.

It’s been a tough start to life for Munster in the 2022/23 URC as they followed up their first round defeat to Cardiff with a 23-17 loss against Dragons at Rodney Parade yesterday.

Munster stormed into a 3-0 lead after two minutes thanks to a Ben Healy penalty to give Rowntree’s side an ideal start but only seven minutes later, the scores were tied.

Munster were forced into an early double change with Keith Earls and Jean Kleyn being forced off with injuries as Liam Coombes and Tadhg Beirne took their places.

Shortly after, Dragons were awarded four penalties in a twenty minute period and JJ Hanrahan was pin-point with his kicks, giving the side a healthy 15-3 advantage.

However, Munster headed into half-time with the lead as quickfire tries from Stephen Archer and Ben Healy with the latter converting both of them to give the province a 17-15 advantage.

That, however, would be where the scoring would stop for Rowntree’s side and it took until the 71st minute for Dragons to reply, as they scored their first try of the game.

They were unsuccessful with their conversion but scored their sixth penalty with the last play of the match to make it 23-17 and secure their first home win in 17 months.

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Munster: Mike Haley, Keith Earls (Liam Coombes, 13), Malakai Fekitoa, Dan Goggin, Simon Zebo, Ben Healy (Joey Carbery, 58), Craig Casey (Paddy Patterson, 60); Dave Kilcoyne (Liam O’Connor, 58), Niall Scannell (Scott Buckley, 66), Stephen Archer (Keynan Knox, 58), Jean Kleyn (Tadhg Beirne, 13), Fineen Wycherley (Edwin Edogbo, 58), Jack O’Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony (c), Jack O’Sullivan.

A home game follows for Munster as they prepare to face Zebre in Musgrave this Saturday at 5:05pm.