DRAGONS PULL OFF SURPRISE WIN

NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS 23 MUNSTER 17

Newport Gwent Dragons stunned Heineken Cup semi-finalists Munster with a surprise 23-17 victory at Rodney Parade.

Jason Forster, Nathan Brew and Gareth Wyatt all went over as Newport recovered from a disastrous start when they conceded a try after just 61 seconds.

Trevor Halstead gave Munster a dream start when he went over early on after Newport had made a hash of the kick-off deep inside their own half.

But the Dragons roared back with three tries before half-time that were enough to secure the win that keeps them right in the chase for one of Wales’ three automatic qualification places for next year’s Heineken Cup.

However they can take huge pleasure from claiming the scalp of Munster just a week after the men in red booked their place in this season’s Heineken Cup semi-finals with victory over Perpignan.

Newport recovered from the early blow of Halstead’s try within minutes through their inspirational captain Jason Forster.

Luscombe attacked down the right and Michael Owen surged up the middle before Munster’s defence finally creaked on the left. Wyatt stepped on the gas to squeeze through the smallest of gaps before his pass inside found Forster who stormed over.

Munster outside-half Jeremy Manning, in for the injured Ronan O’Gara as one of only three changes to the Munster side that beat Perpignan, added a penalty to his earlier conversion but left the field on a stretcher on 26 minutes with  concussion.

The loss of Manning knocked Munster off their stride and Nathan Brew capitalised. The once-capped Wales wing, who has been blighted by injuries, surged over from close range off Ceri Sweeney’s inside pass to score before picking a clever angle to scorch through Munster’s defence and send Wyatt over in the corner just before half-time.

Munster coach Declan Kidney’s half-time talk did the trick as his team levelled the scores eight minutes into the second half through Federico Pucciariello.

But the Dragons seized control of the game with Warlow converting two penalties to open a six-point lead.

It could have been more when Wyatt almost returned Paul Burke’s over ambitious pass for a try at the other end.

The Dragons wing went close again late on but misjudged the bounce of Warlow’s cross-field kick but it was enough to keep Munster pinned back until the final whistle.