Munster Aim To Extend Winning Run

Table-topping Munster make their second trip to Wales in a week to face Newport Gwent Dragons tonight hoping to continue their good run of form.

It’s five PRO12 wins on the trot now for Rob Penney’s side after last week’s convincing 31-10 victory at the Arms Park but Rodney Parade hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for Munster in the past with only one win on their last four visits to the ground.

The Dragons are expecting their biggest attendance of the season and their formidable home form has seen them win five out of six at Rodney Parade this season, including scalps against Ulster and Scarlets in the PRO12 and London Wasps in the LV Cup.

Rob Penney has named a very strong side for the clash with Ireland captain Paul O’Connell starting on his return from international duty, South African winger Gerhard van den Heever making his debut and Keith Earls, among others, returning from injury.

Seventh-placed Dragons have done likewise with Director of Rugby Lyn Jones making no changes to the side that beat Glasgow Warriors 23-8 last weekend.

That win away to a Glasgow side that are notoriously hard to beat at Scotstoun, especially by such a convincing scoreline, was arguably their most impressive result of the season.

Out-half Jason Tovey was man of the match in that win and the 24-year-old is the second-highest scorer in this season’s PRO12 with 71 points.

The Dragons will be without Toby Faletau who has been selected in the Wales team to face Australia on Saturday.

In this fixture last season Munster went down on a scoreline of 30-24, although they did pick up two losing bonus points.

Paddy Butler, Ronan O’Mahony, CJ Stander and Johne Murphy all dotted down but Munster gave themselves too much to do, having trailed by 17 points midway through the second half.

Their last win in Rodney Parade came in March 2012 on the night that Mick O’Driscoll won his 200th cap.

On that occasion, it looked likely that another loss was on the cards when Munster trailed 14-9 with Tomás O’Leary in the sin bin but tries from Luke O’Dea and Felix Jones earned a hard-fought 24-14 win.

When the sides met earlier in the season at Musgrave Park, Munster came out on top thanks to a dominant display by the forwards with tries from James Cronin and captain Peter O’Mahony securing a 23-9 win.

Please note tonight’s game will not be televised and updates will be issued via Twitter here.