ISA CAKE FOR BLUES
Nacewa’s double delight as Leinster punish Munster’s mistakes to take the derby honours
SO, Leinster skipper Isa Nacewa gets his wish. A match-winning role in the biggest rugby derby of them all. Affirmation he still has what it takes despite being at the twilight age of 34 for a back-three finisher.
Last week, the three-time European Cup winner explained how missing Leinster versus Munster was quite an ache during the two-year retirement spent back in his native Auckland from 2013 to 2015.
He sounded pumped three days out from this latest renewal. Ready to go. And yesterday, he ensured his words were put into colourful action.
He snaffled two tries 20 minutes apart either side of the interval, darting in at the corner off scrum ball sent down the blindside for the first and then taking a Rob Kearney pass to exploit an overlap for the second.
He could even have had two more but for interventions by Simon Zebo, who hunted him down in the first half and then did enough to cover a Johnny Sexton kick-through in the second.
Outside of Nacewa’s scoring double, this was a largely a low-frills spectacle, Leinster stubbornly refusing to go wide often enough in preference of trucking it up the middle with their forwards.
Yet, 11 points was still a comfortable margin of victory, enough to send Leo Cullen’s increasingly confident side joint top of the Pro12 pile ahead of their two European challenges against Castres and Montpellier, teams who faced off last night in Top 14.
Munster, who are Paris-bound next Sunday to face Ronan O’Gara’s Racing, seven-point derby winners over Stade yesterday, competed for long stretches, having ample ball and territory throughout.
However, while they were to have a consolation final say, a score for shortterm signing Jaco Taute, their lack of attacking penetration meant they exited a well-beaten team that had briefly led for just six first-half minutes.
Game over, the disconsolate visitors were the ones exiting quickly. Their scrum, a September strong point, only shared a penalty apiece with the hosts instead of gaining any sort of dominance.
Their defence also slipped off a few too many tackles, only around 85 per cent being completed. And then there were far too many turnovers, a malaise encapsulated in the comedy that occurred 13 minutes from time.
It was Robbie Henshaw, impressive on his debut combining with Garry Ringrose and Sexton, who put in the intelligent kick that had Ronan O’Mahony fumbling and then Tyler Bleyendaal spilling under pressure from the chasing Henshaw, gifting Jamison Gibson-Park a try just three minutes after his introduction as replacement scrum half.
Rassie Erasmus could only watch and seethe. ‘Leinster, without doubt, deserved to win,’ rued the new Munster coach at the end of his derby day baptism.
‘If you give a try away first phase from a scrum first phase and give another try on a platter from knocking on against a quality side like Leinster, you’re probably going to lose. The mistakes we made were simple errors.’
After the sombre minute’s silence for Leinster lock Hayden Triggs’ premature baby daughter Stella, who passed away on Friday, proceedings started frustratingly for Munster, coughing up six against the grain as Sexton landed two penalties and Nacewa nearly took full advantage of Ringrose’s space-creating dummy on halfway.
Traditional values, though, reassured the visitors, O’Mahony driving over off a maul for a 7-6 lead. But Leinster quickly wrested back the initiative.
The sight of Ringrose knocking on with the line at his mercy and then an obstruction from referee David Wilkinson spoiling a Luke McGrath charge at the line only delayed the inevitable, Nacewa getting in for the 35th minute try and a lead his team were never to lose.
Loosehead prop James Cronin was an early second-half Munster sob story, his try chalked off for double movement, and the error was soon compounded by the lost lineout which sparked the pressure for Nacewa’s 55th minute score and left no one in any doubt this was Leinster’s day.