Welsh Rugby Union : Newsroom : Turner says Munster are for the taking

The Newport Gwent Dragons coach reckons his men will get back to winning ways against Declan Kidney's side following their 22-7 defeat to Connacht in Galway last weekend.

Turner believes Munster are the ideal opposition to face as the Red Army have only won five away matches in 21 against the Welsh regions since the inauguration of the Celtic competition in 2001.

And it doesn't matter which competition Munster play in, the men in red tend to struggle once they cross the Irish Sea; Munster's record is only slightly better in the Heineken Cup with five wins in 10 games.

Turner said: "None of the Irish sides find it easy coming to Wales. We expect it'll be a full-blooded affair and I'm sure they'll have done their homework.

"Before the start of the season we knew the Llanelli Scarlets were beatable on paper and we managed to do that, and this will be the same. After a bad defeat in Galway, we need to get back to winning ways on Friday."

Munster, who did record a win in Newport in 2005, will have other ideas after getting their Magners League campaign off to a perfect start with a win over the Scarlets.

And despite being without several star players like Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer and new signing All Black Doug Howlett at the Rugby World Cup, Turner expects a difficult encounter at Rodney Parade.

"After watching Munster against the Scarlets, they will present the same kind of threat as Connacht," said Turner. "They're very committed up front and have a top class leader in Anthony Foley along with quality players in the pack like Mick O'Driscoll and Federico Pucciariello.

"And they've added to their squad behind the scrum in Paul Warwick who is a fine player and managed to lure over Rua Tipoki who I've always been impressed with. Kieran Lewis is another top player. He didn't get the games at Leinster because of Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy so the balance of their squad has vastly improved.

"When Munster get their World Cup boys back they'll be a force to be reckoned with. But even so, we'll have to be at our best on both up front and behind the scrum to win."

Dragons: Martyn Thomas; Gareth Wyatt, Rhodri Gomer-Davies, Ashley Smith, Richard Mustoe; Aled Thomas, Andrew Williams; Hugh Gustafson, Steve Jones, Rhys Thomas, Luke Charteris, Andrew Hall, Dan Lydiate, Richard Parks, Joe Bearman

Replacements: Ben Daly, Adam Black, Peter Sidoli, Nic Fitisemanu, Jamie Ringer, Gareth Maule, Wayne Evans

Munster: S Payne, I Dowling, K Lewis, L Mafi, A Horgan, P Warwick, T O'Leary, D Hurley, D Fogarty, F Pucciariello, M Melbourne, M O'Driscoll, B Holland, N Ronan, A Foley

Replacements: S Cronin, T Ryan, T O'Donnell, J Coughlan, G Hurley, J Manning, R Tipoki

Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)

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