NEWPORT Gwent Dragons endured more home misery in the Guinness Pro12 after being embarrassingly overpowered by Munster at Rodney Parade.

The Dragons led 9-7 at the break but suffered yet another second half collapse to leave them languishing with the Italians at the bottom of the table, with the final whistle prompting boos from the understandably disgruntled home fans.

The region have mustered just one league win all season and next up face the daunting prospect of title-chasing Glasgow, with all their internationals back, at Scotstoun.

Incredibly things could get even worse before they get better.

It was another grim evening for the Dragons with the pre-season optimistic talk of pushing their Welsh rivals hard now seeming laughable.

They were in a position to push for a morale-boosting win at half-time yet could only manage a penalty after the resumption, meaning that in their last five fixtures they have scored just 19 points in the second half.

The Dragons have made great strides in the tight so far this season but came a cropper against the Munstermen, who powered their way to a trio of tries from five-metre lineouts.

In pre-season Munster boss Anthony Foley had told Sky Sports that Rodney Parade was the most intimidating ground in the league.

However, the famous ground has been more of a wendyhouse than a fortress in 2014 with Bath, Northampton, Connacht, Edinburgh, the Ospreys, Glasgow and Newcastle having left with the spoils.

The Dragons could ill afford to let Munster join the list after a miserable start to the season that meant only the Italian duo of Treviso and Zebre were beneath them in the table.

The region had been building towards the key fixture in the LV= Cup with director of rugby Lyn Jones naming an experienced pack to get them back to winning ways against the Ospreys.

The aim was to head into the game with momentum so that they could record a second league win of the campaign to, temporarily at least, leapfrog regional rivals Cardiff Blues.

But now, unless things change remarkably, they are left pondering yet another campaign of bringing up the rear.

The Dragons swiftly got on the scoreboard through the left boot of full-back Geraint Rhys Jones, who had struck the right post with a very early sitter, but they trailed 7-3 after 16 minutes after putting themselves under pressure.

A clearance poor kick enabled fly-half Ian Keatley to pin them back to their line and a botched lineout conceded five-metre scrum, which in turn led to a penalty against tighthead Dan Way.

Munster kicked to the corner and, despite a good initial drive by the Dragons, the visitors stayed calm for ex-Cardiff Blues number eight Robin Copeland to power over from close range.

Keatley, released by Ireland after featuring against Georgia last Sunday, converted only for Jones to punish an offside infringement to make it 7-6 after a quarter.

It was a scrappy affair with the Dragons failing to cope with savvy Munster’s breakdown approach but fly-half Dorian Jones, the full-back’s younger brother, found his range to keep the visitors in their own territory with some nice touchfinders.

The pressure paid off when Paddy Butler was as subtle as a sledgehammer, racing into a ruck from the side to gift Jones the elder another three points and the Dragons a 9-7 lead approaching half-time.

The hosts were good value for their lead with number eight Lewis Evans, flanker James Thomas and hooker Elliot Dee all carrying hard at a well-drilled Irish defence.

However, errors in enemy territory prevented them from enjoying a more convincing advantage at the break.

Munster were fastest out of the blocks after the resumption with Keatley punishing a Nic Cudd breakdown offence to make it 10-9 to the visitors.

And the Dragons were really chasing the game at 17-9 down when hooker Duncan Casey guided a driving lineout over the line with Keatley expertly adding the conversion.

Munster may have been without Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Simon Zebo but they were as ruthless as ever, making their pair of trips to enemy territory count.

The hosts could not get out of their half and were in desperate need of a spark.

Yet the inspiration came from a red jersey to secure the spoils with 17 minutes left when full-back JJ Hanrahan cut a lovely line to burst through midfield and give centre Andrew Smith a run in.

Munster led 24-7 and the home faithful were getting every more exasperated with their side’s tendency to put boot to ball.

Jones cut the gap with a penalty after 66 minutes but it was one-way traffic and Munster got a deserved bonus point when Casey scored a carbon copy of his earlier score.

And the disgruntled punters streamed towards the exits when wing Ronan O’Mahony won the race to a grubber kick over the line.

Dragons: G R Jones, T Morgan, R Wardle, A Smith (A Hewitt 75), H Amos, D Jones (J Tovey 75), R Rees (J Evans 58), B Harris (O Evans 70), E Dee (R Thomas 79), D Way (L Fairbrother 67), C Hill (M Screech 75), R Landman (captain), J Thomas, N Cudd (O Griffiths 65), L Evans.

Scorers: penalties – G R Jones (4)

Munster: JJ Hanrahan, A Conway (J Murphy 37), A Smith, D Hurley, R O'Mahony, I Keatley, C Sheridan (D Williams 58), J Ryan (A Cotter 75), D Casey (N Scannell 75), S Archer (BJ Botha 75), Donncha O'Callaghan (captain, Dave O’Callaghan 75), B Holland, P Butler, S Dougall (CJ Stander 58), R Copeland.

Scorers: tries – R Copeland, D Casey (2), A Smith,R O’Mahony; conversions – I Keatley (5); penalty – I Keatley

Referee: Matteo Liperini (Italy)

Attendance: 5,783

Star man: Billy Holland