Blues are on course as they edge past old rivals Munster
Cullen’s supporting cast play starring roles but Munster’s valiant effort forces Blues to sweat in march to Pro14 final
STROLLING through the sunshine on the way to a sold-out RDS, the concern for Leinster supporters was that this game came was coming too soon on the back of last week’s gruelling Champions Cup final defeat of Racing.
It was, many felt, the perfect time for a wounded Munster to make the trip up to Dublin 4 to spoil the Leinster party.
In total it took Leo Cullen’s side just eight short minutes to dispel any such fears, although the manner in which they allowed Munster back into this game will surely give the Leinster head coach plenty to ponder ahead of Saturday’s Pro14 final at Landsdowne Road.
Some of the latecomers were still making their way to their seats when the Blues took control of this entertaining, open, and at times chaotic game.
Having already threatened the Munster line, the livewire James Lowe broke down the left before being floored by Simon Zebo. The Blues recycled the ball, with Jack McGrath producing a wonderful pop pass into Lowe, who stumbled through before feeding Jack Conan, the No 8 strolling over to hand the province an early lead. Interestingly, it was Joey Carbery – in his usual full-back slot for Leinster – who stepped up to add the extra two points as Ross Byrne watched on.
The fact that the key players involved in the move weren’t starters in Bilbao only highlighted the massive gap in resources that has opened up between these two fierce rivals. However, as impressive as Leinster’s supporting cast were here, equally significant was Munster’s sloppiness. Far too often, unforced errors let them down.
While Leinster can afford to leave the likes of Johnny Sexton, Dan Leavy and Rob Kearney watching on from behind their sunglasses in the stands, Munster were always going to need their key men on song to have any chance of an upset.
The loss of Jack O’Donoghue, carted off after just 11 minutes, was a significant one, although Munster managed to settle themselves with a JJ Hanrahan penalty shortly afterwards. The former Northampton man is still failing to convince since returning to the province, and here he was overshadowed by Leinster 10 Byrne – another surplus to requirements in Bilbao.
Byrne extended Leinster’s lead with a penalty on 22 minutes, before a superb last-ditch Sammy Arnold tackle prevented Lowe from bagging a second Leinster try. Munster, somehow, were still hanging on.
Even if they were failing to reap the rewards their endeavours deserved, there was at least some bite in Leinster’s play. Munster on the other hand were constantly left cursing themselves after they fluffed their lines time and time again, with Zebo and Andrew Conway both guilty of failing to execute straightforward passes when Munster had numbers to their advantage.
Hanrahan dragged a penalty wide before a heavy tackle from Lowe left him in a heap on the RDS turf and remain in the dressing room after half-time, while Jean Kleyn was lucky to only see yellow for a wild head-on-head collision with Byrne.
Trailing 10-3, Johann van Grann’s side at least began the second period with more intent, led by the ever-reliable Conor Murray, and within four minutes of the restart Keith Earls bundled over in the corner after some excellent hands by Zebo, who at that stage must have been fearing he was playing his last game in the red of Munster before his move to Racing. Ian Keatley – on in place of Hanrahan – dragged the conversion wide. The try failed to provide the spark Van Graan’s men needed and to weather any potential storm, Cullen dipped into Leinster’s power-packed bench, with Cian Healy, Scott Fardy and Andrew Porter entering the fray. They had chances to build on their five-point lead, with Carbery and Byrne both failing to hit the target from the tee. However, Munster were afforded a lifeline, but even as they built some momentum they continued to find all the doors locked. Most puzzling was the decision to turn down a shot at the posts with just 12 minutes left. Leinster went back up the field and added a Carbery penalty to open up an eight-point lead, but after a sustained period of pressure Munster’s Gerbrandt Grobler was able to touch down against the posts to make for a nervy ending, Keatley comfortably adding the extras.
Pinned back defending a one point lead with two minutes on the clock, it was 21-year-old substitute Max Deegan who ended up the unlikely hero, forcing a turnover penalty that eventually saw Leinster over the line.
The double dream remains alive, but Leinster survived by the skin of their teeth.
LEINSTER: J Carbery; J Larmour, G Ringrose, I Nacewa (capt) (R O’Loughlin HT), J Lowe; R Byrne (B Daly HIA 36-HT), L McGrath (N McCarthy 78); J McGrath (C Healy 47), S Cronin (J Tracy 56), T Furlong (A Porter 56), D Toner, J Ryan, R Ruddock (S Fardy 63), J Murphy, J Conan (M Deegan 79).
SCORERS – Try: Conan. Pens: Byrne 2, Carbery. con: Carbery. MUNSTER: S Zebo; A Conway, S Arnold (D Sweetnam 69), R Scannell, K Earls; JJ Hanrahan (I Keatley HT), C Murray; J Cronin (D Kilcoyne 53), R Marshall (N Scannell 59), J Ryan (C Parker 74), J Kleyn, B Holland (G Grobler 51), P O’Mahony (capt), J O’Donoghue (R Copeland 11), CJ Stander.
YELLOW CARD: J Kleyn 36.
SCORERS – Tries: Earls, Grobler. Pen: Hanrahan. con: Hanrahan.
REFEREE: S Berry (South Africa).