The buzz among the 11,000+ supporters had barely subsided when Munster conjured up another superb move that ended with Niall Ronan - having his first senior start since January - dotted down for their second try.

As with the first, Keith Earls and Simon Zebo were centrally involved. Earls making the initial serious surge on both occasions and Zebo providing the scoring pass on each of those.

Both were scored wide on the right under the West Stand and both were converted by Ronan O'Gara to give the home side a 14 point lead with just 12 minutes of play gone.

Earls was the Man of the Match and no quibble there because he was at the core of everything creative in midfield as well as making a superb cover tackle in the 69th minute with his side leading 26-13. But he must have been pushed close for that accolade by Paddy Butler who had a storming game at number 8 in the absence of James Coughlan. Ian Keatley too will be happy with his night's work while Donncha O'Callaghan, despite a ten minute rest in the opening half courtesy of a touch-judge call, continued in the rich vein of form he's been showing this season.

It might have been fanciful to expect the champagne rugby to flow after the initial pouring and unforced errors allowed the tempo to drop though the Dragons played their part in that once they'd absorbed the initial shell shock they got hands on ball and made it a contest.

Tom Prydie put them on the board with a 15th minute penalty but missed two more before Lewis Robling took over and kicked one in injury time to leave it 14-6 at half time.

Conor Murray was only on a matter of minutes for Peter Stringer when he scored try number three, Butler's burst initially creating the opportunity with O'Gara's conversion coming back off the upright.

And it was O'Gara who started the move that ended with Zebo's 58th minute try, Earls again involved and before him the hard working Billy Holland, Zebo doing a little ball juggling before touching down for the bonus score.

Dragons had their chances breaching the Munster defence in the 61st minute and on two occasions they needed the TMO to rule. And on both occasions, the video replays showed Jude Quinn got it spot on. Then a break out from their own 22 was only ended first by Earl's tackle and then Ronan, preventing a try that could have made it a one score game.

Munster rounded it off with a try from replacement Tommy O'Donnell and again O'Gara touchline-hugging conversion, hit the upright. The inside, for a four from five return and a bonus point win that leaves them second in the RaboDirect PRO12 table.

Munster: I Keatley; D Howlett, K Earls, J Downey, S Zebo (D Barnes 65); R O'Gara (JJ Hanrahan 73), P Stringer (C Murray, 50); M Horan (W du Preez, 65), M Sherry (D Varley, 65), BJ Botha (S Archer, 57); Donncha O'Callaghan, B Holland (D Foley 65); Dave O'Callaghan, N Ronan (T O'Donnell 70), P Butler.

Newport Gwent Dragons: D Evans; W Harries, A Hughes (L Davies 74), A Smith (A Tuilagi 60), T Prydie (P Leach 65); L Robling, J Evans; P Price (A Coundley 67), S Jones (S Parry 65), D Way; I Nimmo, A Jones; D Lydiate, J Groves, T Brown.

Referee: M Mitrea (Italy).