Danny Cipriani capped a bad week with a first-half red card for a high tackle that sent 14-man Gloucester spinning to defeat against at Thomond Park. Cipriani, snubbed by Eddie Jones on Thursday when England’s autumn series squad was named, was sent off in the 28th minute by the French referee Alexandre Ruiz after the fly-half’s right shoulder made contact with the head of the Munster centre Rory Scannell.

Tries from Mike Haley and Rhys Marshall then gave Munster a 15-3 half-time lead. The Irish province had their bonus point by the 55th minute thanks to Joey Carbery’s first European try in the red jersey and a Sam Arnold score.

Andrew Conway added a fifth try in front of a 23,068-strong crowd but Munster’s poor discipline saw them end the game with 13 players – the replacements Arnold and Stephen Archer were shown yellow cards – as Gloucester rallied superbly with tries from the former Munster lock Gerbrandt Grober, Jason Woodward and the excellent Ben Morgan.

Johan Ackermann, the Gloucester head coach, tried to focus on the fightback and spoke of the Cipriani incident only in general terms, saying: “I’m not going to get involved in a debate about red cards. Before the season started I gave out a full statement to the media back at Gloucester about my opinion about red cards. My view is simple. It is spoiling the game if there is no intent.”

Gloucester’s captain, Ed Slater, said: “The referee said he felt there was shoulder contact to the head. For him that was enough to give a red card. He is the referee. Whether I agree with it or not doesn’t matter. There were a few high shots during the game. I’m trying to work out what makes that one a lot more serious than some of the others.”

Cipriani’s departure came with his side 5-3 down. Munster had gone ahead after the match officials deemed Tom Savage’s shoulder-led clearout on Dan Goggin worthy of a yellow card. Gloucester were caught narrow in defence and Haley went over in the right corner. But Carbery missed the conversion and Cipriani soon turned a penalty into three points with a booming long-range kick.

However, he received his marching orders a few minutes later, being caught too upright in a tackle on Scannell that also involved Ruskin.

Carbery sent the resulting penalty over for 8-3 and he converted after Billy Twelvetrees was pinged for another high tackle and hooker Marshall struck from a lineout maul.

Carbery wrapped around Goggin to raid in beside the posts in the 50th minute and the young No 10’s classy behind-the-back pass added momentum to an attack which ended with Arnold’s well-taken try.

At 29-3 down, Gloucester were far from finished. Grobler scored from close range following a series of Munster penalties and Matt Banahan threatened before full-back Woodward crossed in the left corner. Conway claimed Munster’s fifth try, via Carbery’s soft hands, with the latter chalking up 16 points in total.

However, the new Pool 2 leaders’ disappointing finish led to a little shine being taken off their victory as they allowed the resilient Cherry and Whites to dictate possession, Morgan burrowing over the line in the 78th minute, in between Arnold’s yellow for a deliberate knock-on and Archer’s for a high tackle.