Munster lose again
The Irish province tried their best to the cross the Dragons' tryline throughout the game, but were thwarted by a determined Welsh defence. The Dragons got the game's only try.
In the day's other game, Ospreys ran in five tries to beat Italian side Zebre 39-22.
Newport Gwent Dragons 22-6 Munster
Rynard Landman made Munster pay for their missed opportunities as Newport Gwent Dragons completed a Welsh clean sweep of Pro12 wins this weekend.
The Dragons welcomed the Munstermen to Rodney Parade having won just one of their last six league games but they emerged with a 22-6 victory on Sunday afternoon.
The boot of Dorian Jones kept the visitors at bay throughout and Landman scored the game's only try late on as Munster slipped to a second consecutive Pro12 defeat.
And Anthony Foley's charges will look back with frustration on a first half that saw them thwarted on the Dragons tryline on more than one occasion.
Jones handed the hosts an early lead from the tee after Munster were caught off their feet and the Irish province had to defend resolutely to prevent that lead from growing in the opening ten minutes.
And they were level shortly before the quarter-hour mark when Rory Scannell bisected the posts with a penalty of his own, following good work from Robin Copeland.
An Ashton Hewitt knock-on halted a dangerous Dragons move before Simon Zebo thought he had grabbed the game's first try at the other end.
A sharp break from Ronan O'Mahony caught the home side off-guard and Zebo lunged across the line, only for the TMO to decide he had benefitted from a double movement.
There was more frustration for Munster when Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino ignored Zebo on his shoulder, only for a heroic saving tackle from Nic Cudd on the line to force a knock-on from the fullback.
They were behind again on half-hour mark, courtesy of a second Jones penalty, before it was Zebo's turn to produce a try-saving tackle by the corner flag.
Scannell made it 6-6 when Adam Warren was caught offside in front of the posts and that was the way it stayed until half-time.
The Dragons went ahead for the third time early in the second half thanks to a Jones drop goal, while a missed penalty from Tyler Bleyendaal left Munster three points adrift.
That three-point lead doubled on 64 minutes when Munster were offside, as ill-discipline continued to stifle the visitors' chances and Jones capitalised.
Foley's side were still within a converted try of their hosts but it was the Dragons who continued to press forward, Jones twice sending a drop goal wide of the target.
But the try arrived three minutes from time, when lock Landman sold a neat dummy and stepped inside two defenders to pile over, Jones converting.
Jason Tovey added one final penalty for good measure as the Dragons recorded just a second victory over Munster in their last ten encounters.
The scorers:
For Dragons:
Try: Landman
Con: Jones
Pens: Jones 3, Tovey
DG: Jones
For Munster:
Pens: Scannell 2
Dragons: 15 Carl Meyer, 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Adam Hughes, 12 Adam Warren, 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Dorian Jones, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Taulupe Faletau, Nic Cudd, 6 Lewis Evans, 5 Rynard Landman, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Thomas Rhys Thomas (captain), 1 Phil Price.
Replacements: 16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Shaun Knight, 18 Lloyd Fairbrother, 19 Cory Hill, 20 Ed Jackson, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Jason Tovey, 23 Ross Wardle.
Munster: 15 Lucas González Amorosino, 14 Ronan O'Mahony, 13 David Johnston, 12 Denis Hurley (captain), 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Rory Scannell, 9 Tomás O'Leary, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Dave O'Callaghan, 6 Shane Buckley, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Dave Foley, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne.
Replacements: 16 Kevin O'Byrne, 17 James Cronin, 18 Mario Sagario, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Jordan Coghlan, 21 Cathal Sheridan, 22 Tyler Bleyendaal, 23 Gerhard van den Heever.
Referee: Gary Conway
Assistant Referees: Leighton Hodges, Daniel Jones
TMO: Tim Hayes
Zebre 22-39 Ospreys
Justin Tipuric scored two tries as the Ospreys secured a third straight Pro12 success, 39-22 away to Zebre in Parma.
After a tight first half, two tries in two minutes from Eli Walker and the outstanding Tipuric gave Steve Tandy's side a sizeable lead, and despite a battling effort from Zebre, the Ospreys ran in five tries in total.
Zebre made a dream start when Dries van Schalkwyk intercepted a ball from the Ospreys in midfield and then sent Kayle van Zyl away for the try. Carlo Canna converted to make it 7-0 to the home side after just three minutes.
The Ospreys had more of the ball though and after some good tactical kicking from Sam Davies set them up in good position, Jeff Hassler showed his power to brush off two tackles on go over on the right. Davies converted to level matters.
With 20 minutes gone Zebre had a great chance when they broke from deep and although that move came to nothing, they had a scrum five minutes out.
They couldn't find a way over though and were then dealt a major blow when Andrea Manici suffered what looked a serious knee injury after a tackle by Tyler Ardron saw him twist awkwardly.
The Ospreys took the lead for the first time just before the half-hour, and they stretched that advantage before the break.
After some concerted pressure, Ospreys were able to work an overlap and showed their quick hands to spread the ball to Walker on the left.
Davies' conversion hit the post and the bar before bouncing away but the Ospreys were in control, leading 15-7.
There was still time for the Ospreys to add to their lead before the break as they took advantage of a Zebre error. When the ball was lost by Tommaso Boni in midfield, it was hacked forward and Tipuric showed his pace to chase it down and pounce when Van Zyl failed to control in his own 22. Davies converted from out wide to make it 22-7.
In a thrilling end to the half, Zebre fought back to score their second try. After turning down a shot at goal on 39 minutes, Canna kicked to the corner. The Zebre maul advanced but after finally being slowed, Marcello Violi plucked the ball from the maul and sprinted down the blind side to score. Canna missed the conversion and the Ospreys led 22-12 at half-time.
Zebre made a promising start to the second half and when the Ospreys pulled down a rolling maul, Canna slotted a penalty to cut the deficit back to seven points.
Ospreys responded almost immediately with three points from Davies before Mils Muliaina, on debut, went off following a good 50-minute run-out.
The Ospreys could have scored their bonus-point try only for Dimitri Arhip to knock on just short of the line.
But they didn't have to wait long for the fourth try, with Tipuric showing a remarkable burst of speed as he burst through in midfield before stepping the last man to grab his second.
Just after the hour the Ospreys ran in their fifth try, with Tipuric again very involved in setting up Jonathan Spratt to go under the posts. Davies converted again to make it 39-15.
Zebre refused to fold though and a second try from Van Zyl, stepping inside the final man, was reward for a strong finish to the game. Edoardo Padovani converted from the touchline however they then lost impressive scrumhalf Violi to a knee injury in the closing stages.
The scorers:
For Zebre:
Tries: Van Zyl 2, Violi
Cons: Violi, Padovani
Pen: Canna
For Ospreys:
Tries: Hassler, Walker, Tipuric 2, Spratt
Cons: Davies 4
Pens: Davies 2
Teams:
Zebre: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Dion Berryman, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Kayle Van Zyl, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Paul Derbyshire, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Jacopo Sarto, 5 George Biagi (captain), 4 Valerio Bernabò, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Andrea Lovotti.
Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Guillermo Roan, 19 Marco Bortolami, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Giulio Bisegni, 23 Edoardo Padovani.
Ospreys: Dan Evans, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Jonathan Spratt, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield, 8 James King, 7 Justin Tipuric (captain), 6 Olly Cracknell, 5 Tyler Ardron, 4 Lloyd Ashley, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Scott Otten, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Ma'afu Fia, 19 Alun Wyn Jones, 20 Rory Thornton 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Hanno Dirksen.
Referee: John Lacey
Assistant referees: Elia Rizzo, Luca Trentin
TMO: Stefano Penne
