Munster 19 Leinster 20
Leinster may have sent less than half their frontliners down the M7 to Limerick but that was still enough to come home with the points and maintain their perfect start to the season after a superb contest at a packed Thomond Park.
The Munster faithful will recognise the graph is heading in the right direction but, goodness, they could have done with snatching a win from this contest but instead end the year suffering a fourth home defeat in a row to their arch rivals despite fielding their strongest side.
But Leinster, 12 from 12 now this season in both competitions, are past masters at carving out a victory and the manner in which they dealt with the various challenges presented to them on a perfect night for rugby in Limerick was outstanding.
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The capacity crowd back in Thomond Park for this Christmas fixture for the first time in three years were entertained from the outset as both sides tore into each other, with every battle on the ground or in the air or the set-piece fought with tremendous intensity.
Leinster tried to take the sting out of the occasion with some early possession play and they got off the mark inside three minutes when Ross Byrne landed a penalty from 38 metres to take his Leinster tally past 900 points.
A penalty on a Leinster put-in to a scrum five minutes later when Cian Healy did a number on Dave Kilcoyne, helped the league leaders settle further as the home fans in the crowd of 25,600 did their utmost to lift Munster.
Great battles were developing all over the pitch, not least in the frontrows where Healy and Kilcoyne squared off and John Ryan and Andrew Porter, making his 100th Leinster appearance, also got stuck in with each winning skirmishes at various stages.
Byrne doubled Leinster’s lead from 20 metres at the end of the opening quarter after Conor Murray was pinged for not rolling away, but then Munster, with skipper Peter O’Mahony leading the way with some great turnovers, got on top.
The unlikely centre partnership of Antoine Frisch and Jack Crowley also made some great inroads for Munster, even if Garry Ringrose was equally impressive for Leinster as the contest developed into a superb battle.
Munster, having got an edge in the scrum after their early jitters, started to turn possession into chances but Joey Carbery was off target with a penalty from 35 metres after 23 minutes.
A break from Frisch and an inside pass to Niall Scannell set up the opening which led to the opening try nine minutes from the break. Munster opted to tap a penalty inside the 22 and were rewarded for their ambition when No. 8 Gavin Coombes pirouetted over after Scannell and Kilcoyne had made the initial surges. Carbery’s conversion edged Munster 7-6 in front, a lead they took into the interval after Byrne was off target with a penalty from 40 metres just before the break.
Moments before that Carbery and Crowley did well to get back and deny Jordan Larmour after the Leinster winger blocked down a chip from Keith Earls near halfway but was unable to shake off the retreating cover.
Munster got on top after the restart and a couple of penalties to the left corner had the Leinster defence in bother, with referee Chris Busby awarding a penalty try and binning No. 8 Max Deegan for bringing down the maul as Niall Scannell drove towards the line.
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But the response from Leinster was superb. Even with a forward in the bin they opted to pull it in tight and build the phases and when they were awarded a penalty inside the 22, the opted to tap and go, with Scott Penny getting over for his 25th try in 47 appearances after a neat training ground move which saw hooker Dan Sheehan flick it out the back and the flanker did the rest. Byrne’s conversion cut the gap to 14-13.
A couple of crosskicks from Byrne to both corners caused massive trouble for the Munster defence and they were again made to pay after 53 minutes when Leinster again tapped a penalty inside the 22 and this time went a more conventional route with Sheehan getting the support to squeeze through Kilcoyne and Scannell and score his 24th try in his 38th appearance. Byrne tapped over the conversion to lead by 20-14.
The introduction of Craig Casey at scrumhalf added some zip to Munster and they set up a thrilling finish when they cut the gap to minimum after 64 minutes. A perfectly executed 50:22 from Casey after replacement hooker Diarmuid Barron has stripped the ball from Deegan set up the field position which led to Munster’s third try. They pounded away at the Leinster line and when Coombes was stopped inches short, Casey looped it wide for academy winger Pa Campbell to score in the right corner, a second derby try in seven appearances for the former Cork All-Ireland minor football winner who also touched down against Connacht.
His score left just one between them and Carbery was unable to change that as his touchline conversion narrowly missed the target.
And that was as close as Munster got as Leinster just did not allow them another opportunity as they expertly closed out the win.
Indeed, Munster were fortunate to escape with a bonus point as Leinster went on the offensive and it took a superb tackle from Calvin Nash to deny Luke McGrath after an excellent offload by Jamie Osborne put the replacement scrumhalf away, with Campbell getting back as well to complete the turnover.
Munster struggled to get out of their own half and never looked like giving the huge home following the conclusion they wanted and the closing minutes were played out deep inside the home 22 as leaders Leinster maintained their perfect start to the season.
Scorers – Munster: Tries: G Coombes, penalty try, P Campbell. Con: J Carbery; Leinster: Tries: S Penny, D Sheehan. Cons: R Byrne (2). Pens: Byrne (2).
MUNSTER: S Daly; C Nash, A Frisch, J Crowley, K Earls; J Carbery, C Murray; D Kilcoyne, N Scannell, J Ryan; J Kleyn, T Beirne; J O’Donoghue, P O’Mahony, G Coombes.
Replacements: P Campbell for Earls (61 mins); C Casey for Murray (52 mins); D Barron for N Scannell (temp 60-68 mins); J Wycherley for Kilcoyne (62 mins); R Salanoa for Ryan (62 mins); R Scannell for Carbery (65 mins); A Kendellen for O’Mahony (67mins); K McDonald for Kleyn (72 mins).
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Nick McCarthy; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy; Ryan Baird, Joe McCarthy; Rhys Ruddock, Scott Penny, Max Deegan.
Replacements: Luke McGrath for McCarthy (49 mins); R Molony for Baird (52 mins); Jack Conan for Ruddock (56 mins); Vakhtang Abdaladze for (60 mins).
Referee: C Busby (IRFU).
