Munster 22 Leinster 5:Tony McGahan's European champions completed the double over their fierce rivals at Thomond Park to go seven points clear at the top of the Magners League. It was a huge blow to Leinster's hopes of retaining the title as they lost all of the key battles to a Munster side that had beaten them 18-0 back in September at the RDS.
Ronan O’Gara took the man of the match honours with three penalties, and a drop goal that rekindled his heroics in a green shirt at the Millennium Stadium recently.
His opposite number, Felipe Contepomi, had another evening to forget at the Limerick venue, missing four kicks in total in a below-par effort by his high standards.
The Argentinian’s third-minute miss was compounded by the fact that O’Gara was successful with two penalties to give the home side a 6-0 advantage at the interval.
He added a third shortly after the restart before dropping a goal on 55 minutes to give Munster a comfortable 12-0 lead heading into the final quarter.
It got worse for Leinster when Keith Earls easily shrugged off the attentions of Rob Kearney on the left wing to get in for the game’s first try. Although O’Gara was wide with the extras, the game was all but up for Michael Cheika’s side.
Gordon D’Arcy ensured that Leinster would not suffer back-to-back whitewashes against Munster when he got over with 12 minutes to go, but Munster had the last laugh when Denis Fogarty dotted down after brilliant work from fellow substitute Barry Murphy.
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, A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace. Replacements:D Ryan for Ronan, P Stringer for O'Leary, B Murphy for Dowling (all 66 mins), T Buckley for Hayes (67), M O'Driscoll for O'Callaghan (71), D Fogarty for Flannery (72), F Hurley for O'Gara (75)
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, Replacements:J Fogarty for Jackman (25), J Sexton for Dempsey (51), R McCormack for Healy, T Hogan for O'Kelly (both 64), Simon Keogh for Sexton (temp 66-70), S O'Brien for Jennings (67), Simon Keogh for Horgan (77).
