Hooker Duncan Casey scored two of the five Munster tries, with number eight Robin Copeland, centre Andrew Smith and wing Ronan O’Mahony all crossing the Dragons line, while fly-half Ian Keatley landed a penalty and converted all of the tries.

The Dragons were reliant on full-back Geraint Rhys Jones for their points via four penalties and their performance, after some excellent displays, most notably against the Ospreys in the LV= Cup last week, was so poor the home fans booed them off the pitch.

The Dragons led briefly at the start when Jones booted the first of his penalties on his second attempt, the first hitting the upright.

But Munster gained the initiative and territory as fly-half Keatley played a tactically astute opening quarter, bombing the Dragons back line and sending kicks towards the home 22 which forced their retreat.

From one of these attacking kicks to the touchline, Munster grabbed the first try when Keatley sent the home forwards back-peddling to their line for Copeland to pick up, drive left and dive over for the touchdown.

The game turned scrappy after that although Newport went 9-7 ahead as Jones kicked a second penalty form 27 metres and added a third just after the half-hour.

The Munster kicking game, which looked so good early on, started to become wayward while Dragons fly-half Dorian Jones and his full-back namesake probed the lines with touch finders.

The Dragons did come close to a first-half try on occasions as the pack drove close to the Munster line but indiscretions cost them either a turnover or penalty.

Keatley regained the lead for Munster with a 40-metre penalty two minutes after the break and soon the Irish side stretched their lead to eight points as they grabbed a second try.

It came after livewire Cathal Sheridan had charged down a clearance kick by scrum-half Richie Rees in the home 22 and, from a line-out, Munster gained control for Casey to plough over from a few metres on the left blindside.

By the hour, it was all Munster as the Dragons struggled to get out of their own half at times, with Smith running in the third try unopposed after being laid off by JJ Hanrahan.

The Welsh crowd had some relief when Jones landed his fourth penalty but Munster, in the shape of Hanrahan at full-back, re-discovered their tactical kicking game and forced the home side backwards.

Casey got Munster’s bonus point try with his second score of the match, again from an attacking forward move, in the last five minutes and O’Mahoney rubbed salt into the wound when he snatched a grubber kick to the corner for the fifth Munster try.