Cloete scores brace as Munster slay Dragons
URC REPORT: Munster racked up 10 tries as they cruised to a 64-3 victory over the Dragons in Limerick.
The home side sauntered into a 28-3 half-time lead, with young flyhalf Jack Crowley converting tries from Craig Casey (2), captain Jack O’Donoghue and Chris Cloete.
Sam Davies’ 16th-minute penalty proved to be the Welsh region’s only score on a deflating night for Dean Ryan’s men.
With their bonus point secured by the 36th minute, Munster cruised home with further scores from Simon Zebo, Chris Farrell, Shane Daly, Cloete, replacement John Hodnett and O’Donoghue.
Ollie Griffiths got over the ball to break up Munster’s early momentum, but scrum-half Casey duly crossed in the ninth minute, breaking to the blindside of a maul and shrugging off Davies’ attempted tackle.
The Dragons made good ground in response, Davies knocking over a close-range penalty before their own indiscipline brought Munster back into try-scoring range.
Casey squeezed in under Joe Maksymiw to complete his brace in the 22nd minute, and it got worse for the Dragons straight from the restart.
O’Donoghue evaded Aneurin Owen’s tap tackle to finish off a terrific team score from deep, with Crowley converting to make it 21-3.
As the interval approached, Crowley’s inviting pass had John Ryan charging up into the visitors’ 22. Farrell then injected further pace, freeing up flanker Cloete to go over out wide.
Crowley nailed the difficult conversion for good measure, the Dragons’ cause not helped by a miscued line-out and centre Owen’s injury-enforced departure.
A forward pass denied Mike Haley a try on the resumption, but Zebo had a simple run-in after Casey’s quickly-taken penalty.
Crowley missed the conversion and his opposite number Davies fluffed the restart, Haley hoovering it up to step inside Davies and feed Farrell for a muscular finish to the right of the posts.
Crisp offloading from Crowley, Gavin Coombes and Haley sent Daly over, and Casey’s whizzing pass soon handed Cloete his second of the night.
Ben Healy converted Munster’s closing efforts from fellow replacement Hodnett, who finished off a slick move off a line-out, and O’Donoghue, who enjoyed another chance to stretch his legs.
Player of the match
Dragons captain Harri Keddie stood out for the visitors, but it was all about Munster as they piled on the points.
Strong-running centre Farrell was the URC Player of the Match, consistently making ground for the men in red.
Casey and Cloete were also hugely influential.
Play of the match
Quick hands from Crowley and Daly set the wheels in motion for a devastating break out of Munster’s 22.
Farrell was not held in a tackle, managing to break towards halfway and combine with Mike Haley.
O’Donoghue had the pace to stay with him and raid in behind the posts.
The scorers:
For Munster:
Tries: Casey 2, O’Donoghue 2, Cloete 2, Zebo, Farrell, Daly, Hodnett
Cons: Crowley 5, Healy 2
Dragons
Pen: S Davies
Teams:
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Shane Daly, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Dan Goggin, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Jack O’Donoghue (captain), 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Josh Wycherley.
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Alex Kendellen, 20 John Hodnett, 21 Neil Cronin, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Rory Scannell.
Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Will Talbot-Davies, 13 Jack Dixon, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Harri Keddie (captain), 5 Joe Maksymiw, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Taylor Davies, 1 Greg Bateman.
Replacements: 16 Ellis Shipp, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Mesake Doge, 19 Huw Taylor, 20 Ben Fry, 21 Dan Baker, 22 Lewis Jones, 23 Josh Lewis.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
Assistant referees: Andrew Cole (IRFU) & Stuart Douglas (IRFU)
TMO: Colin Stanley (IRFU)
