Munster fall to Leinster after slow start at Thomond Park
Jack Crowley of Munster in action against Charlie Tector of Leinster during the URC match at Thomond Park on Saturday night. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Munster came out the wrong side of a right old arm wrestle of a URC tie at Thomond Park on Saturday evening as they came up just short against a physical Leinster side in a game that certainly was not for the neutrals.
Munster had lost their last six meetings with Leinster at this stadium and were also aiming to achieve their first domestic double over their main rivals in a decade. Motivation definitely was not lacking.
Leinster got some early territory thanks to a few quick Munster penalty concessions. The visitors battered away at the Munster line, but the red tide could not be breached, and Gavin Coombes and Edwin Edogbo combined to force a crucial turnover, to get the famous 16th men roaring.
However, the referee quickly blew for a scrum penalty to Leinster in the 5th minute, in what was about the 5th Leinster penalty at that point already, and from the resultant lineout Josh van der Flier peeled off the maul to crash his way over for the game’s first score, which Harry Byrne converted.
Munster dominated territory and possession for the next twenty minutes but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard, with a number of costly handling errors killing their forward momentum. The referee turning a blind eye to Andrew Porter’s antics at scrum time also helped Leinster’s cause greatly, as he never scrummaged straight all night.
The Munster fans were getting extremely frustrated with the calls going against their team, but right on half-time they were practically apoplectic when a brilliant Munster passing move put the home side in behind the Leinster defence, with a great scoring opportunity, only for the ref to blow for a forward pass when the pass was 100% perfect.
Munster will not have been happy to have gone in seven down at the break, but they were still in the fight at that stage of proceedings.
The next score arrived in the 53rd minute when Jean Kleyn was penalised in the 53rd minute, even though it looked like he never changed his bind. Harry Byrne duly slotted to make it 0-10.
Munster finally got on the board a minute later when Jack Crowley slotted a penalty of his own in front of the Leinster posts, as John Ryan trundled onto the Thomond Park pitch for his 250th Munster appearance.
Byrne pushed the gap out to ten once more with another penalty in the 59th minute after an accidental offside in the Munster midfield.
Munster had a huge amount of ball in and around the Leinster 22 and just when it looked like they were running out of ideas, they stretched the Leinster defence left and then right, and when Crowley went through a gap he had the composure to put Dan Kelly away for a 70th-minute try, to give Munster some hope.
Munster threw the kitchen sink at Leinster in the last couple of minutes but a lot of their attack was too narrow and Leinster were able to soak up tackle after tackle. The last play summed up the game though, as what looked like a clear knock-on from Leinster centre Rieko Ioane was ignored and Leinster pounced on the loose ball and kicked it dead to seal their win.
J Crowley (1 pen), D Kelly (1 try).
H Byrne (2 pens, 1 con), J van der Flier (1 try).
M Haley; S Daly, T Farrell, A Nankivell, T Abrahams; J Crowley, C Casey; M Milne, L Barron, M Ala'alatoa; E Edogbo, T Ahern; T Beirne (c), J O'Donoghue, G Coombes.
J Kleyn for E Edogbo (48), D Barron, J Loughman, J Ryan for M Milne, L Barron, M Ala'alatoa (54), D Kelly for T Abrahams (56), F Wycherley and J Hodnett for T Ahern and J O’Donoghue (66), P Patterson for C Casey (71), J O’Donoghue for T Beirne (74).
C Frawley, T O'Brien, R Ioane, R Henshaw, J Lowe, H Byrne, J Gibson-Park, A Porter, R Kelleher, T Clarkson, J McCarthy, J Ryan (c), M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris.
C Tector for R Henshaw (35), P McCarthy for A Porter (48), T Furlong for T Clarkson (56), J McKee for R Kelleher (67), S Penny for J van der Flier (72), F Gunne for J Gibson-Park (74), A Osborne for T O’Brien (77).
Peter Martin (IRFU)
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