Munster 64-3 Dragons: Munster up to third with 10-try hammering of Dragons

Munster climbed into third in the United Rugby Championship with a ruthless 10-try win over Dragons at Thomond Park.

The hosts were rampant against an opposition bereft of confidence as Craig Casey, Jack O'Donoghue and Chris Cloete helped themselves to two tries each.

The Irish province move above Edinburgh and Glasgow, who lost to Scarlets on Saturday evening.

Dragons remain 15th with just one win.

Having won their past eight home matches Munster entered the game in a confident mood, with several of their Irish internationals returning to provincial action.

Among those players was scrum-half Casey, who put his trademark speed of thought on show to snipe over for the first two tries of the contest and send Munster on their way.

By contrast Dragons arrived on a dreadful run of form with their only win in this season's competition coming away to Connacht on 9 October.

Sam Davies' simple 18th-minute penalty provided their only points of a game in which Munster almost scored at will, claiming the bonus point before the interval with scores from O'Donoghue and Cloete.

Eyeing a big win to boost their points difference as the final stretch of the season comes into view, Munster did not take their foot off the gas after the break as Casey took a quick tap before sending Simon Zebo in for the easiest of tries.

Directly from the restart, Mike Haley caught the ball and sliced through the Dragons' defending before feeding Chris Farrell to charge over as the scores kept coming.

Shane Daly, John Hodnett and a second try from Cloete saw Munster surge past the half-century of points for an emphatic win.

Munster: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Chris Farrell, Dan Goggin, Simon Zebo; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O'Donoghue (capt), Chris Cloete, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer, Alex Kendellen, John Hodnett, Neil Cronin, Ben Healy, Rory Scannell.

Dragons: Jordan Williams; Will Talbot-Davies, Jack Dixon, Aneurin Owen, Rio Dyer; Sam Davies, Rhodri Williams; Greg Bateman, Taylor Davies, Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, Joe Maksymiw, Harri Keddie (capt), Ollie Griffiths, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Ellis Shipp, Aki Seiuli, Mesake Doge, Huw Taylor, Ben Fry, Dan Baker, Lewis Jones, Josh Lewis.

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

Assistants: Andrew Cole & Stuart Douglas (IRFU)

TMO: Colin Stanley (IRFU)

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