Key moments in great rivalry

MAGNERS LEAGUE

At RDS: Saturday, October 3rd, 2009.

Leinster 30 Munster 0

THIS WAS the first clash between the teams following their Heineken Cup semi-final at Croke Park and Leinster were expected to bear the brunt of Munster’s pain.

Instead it was the home side that produced one of their greatest displays.

Jonathan Sexton kicked three conversions and three penalties. Brian O’Driscoll, playing in his first match since the Lions tour injury, scored one try and made another for Gordon D’Arcy while Shane Horgan added a third.

Munster endured a thoroughly miserable day – John Hayes was sent off – with Paul O’Connell and David Wallace proving unable to rescue their team when they were introduced from the bench.

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, J Fogarty, S Wright; L Cullen (capt), N Hines; K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

MUNSTER: K Earls; D Howlett, L Mafi, J de Villiers, Denis Hurley; R O'Gara (capt), T O'Leary; M Horan, D Fogarty, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; D Leamy, N Ronan, N Williams.

HEINEKEN CUP

At Lansdowne Road: Sunday, April 23rd, 2006

Munster 30 Leinster 6

THE TEAMS entered this semi-final in contrasting fashion, Munster grafting hard to edge past Perpignan in the previous match while Leinster stunned Toulouse with a swashbuckling performance in bearding the French aristocrats on home soil. The day though belonged to Munster who overcame losing John Kelly (15 minutes), his replacement Rob Henderson (65 minutes) and having Freddie Pucciariello sin-binned to squeeze the life out of their opponents before embellishing the performance with late tries from Trevor Halstead and Ronan O’Gara. The latter thoroughly outplayed Felipe Contepomi, contributing 20 points. It was a real red-letter day for the champions elect.

MUNSTER: S Payne; A Horgan, J Kelly, T Halstead, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; F Pucciariello, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; D Leamy, D Wallace, A Foley (capt).

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, D Hickie; F Contepomi, G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Blaney, W Green; B Williams, M O'Kelly; C Jowitt, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.

MAGNERS LEAGUE

At Thomond Park: April 4th, 2009.

Munster 22 Leinster 5

MUNSTER HAD already shutout Leinster 18-0 in the RDS earlier in the season and by virtue of this victory basically took an unshakeable grip on the Magners League crown.

Leinster travelled to Thomond Park without Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald and CJ van der Linde. Despite making a promising start, they could not make it count on the scoreboard with Felipe Contepomi missing a number of opportunities.

In contrast, Ronan O’Gara was unerring, contributing 12 points, with the home side tagging on two second-half tries from Keith Earls and replacement hooker Denis Fogarty.

MUNSTER: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan P O'Connell (capt); A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace.

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; I Nacewa, G D'Arcy, S Horgan, R Kearney; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; C Healy, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

HEINEKEN CUP

At Croke Park:Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

Leinster 25 Munster 6

A WORLD CLUB record crowd of 82,208 shoehorned into Croke Park to watch the two Irish provinces go toe-to-toe for a coveted place in the final.

Munster had twice beaten their opponents in the Magners League during the season but, on the day, Leinster were deserving winners inspired by Rocky Elsom and man-of-the-match Brian O’Driscoll, who scored one of three tries, the others coming from Gordon D’Arcy and Luke Fitzgerald.

Jonathan Sexton came off the bench to play a significant part in replacing the injured Felipe Contepomi while Alan Quinlan’s post- game citing and suspension would cost him a Lions tour.

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; C Healy, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen (capt), M O'Kelly; R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

MUNSTER: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt); A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.