BLUES ARE ON A ROLL
Leinster make it lucky 13 with Thomond Park win
Munster 6 Leinster 13
THE LEINSTER machine just keeps on rolling. The visitors spent almost the entire second half on the ropes here, but they dogged out a deserved victory. Trailing 13-6 in the final quarter of this absorbing interprovincial derby, Munster laid siege to the Leinster line time and again, but the visitors – ably led by their outstanding young openside flanker Will Connors – were there to meet them around every corner.
It was Connors, who made a whopping 23 tackles on the night, and replacement hooker Sean Cronin who produced the match-winning moment in the dying minutes. Both sides had long since emptied their bench when Munster lock Darren O’Shea, on as a second-half replacement, was smashed in a monstrous double hit from the Leinster pair. That felt like a big moment.
Munster will find few positives from this rare home loss but the return for Joey Carbery was one. As was the performance of their young No 8 Jack O’Sullivan from the bench.
Carbery, who has not featured for his adopted province since May, due to an ankle injury, entered the fray in the final quarter but even he couldn’t turn the tide.
Something had to give here. Munster were protecting a 21-match unbeaten record heading into this clash. The last team to win here? Leinster, on St Stephen’s Day back in 2017. Leo Cullen’s men arrived with 12 wins from 12 games; eight in the Pro14 and four in Europe. Of those eight league victories, they bagged bonus points in six.
The back-to-back domestic champions have a level of depth that is the envy of their provincial rivals, and across Europe. And that point was hammered home again in Limerick last night.
The IRFU’s player welfare programme decreed that the players who reported for World Cup duty in Japan should take this festive block of interprovincial derbies off.
That decision may not sit well with a lot of punters who shelled out for the games (this clash was a 26,000 sell-out) but this season is going to be a real slog and the likes of Tadhg Furlong, Peter O’Mahony and Garry Ringrose need a breather at some stage considering the packed schedule in 2020.
Leinster arrived here shorn of 13 Ireland internationals and their much-vaunted depth was tested further when Jamison Gibson-Park, now qualified for Ireland on residency, was an 11th-hour withdrawal. Rookie scrum-half Rowan Osborne got a first senior start in his place. He slotted in almost seamlessly.
Munster were also shy of some big names, but the sight of Carbery emerging from the bench in the final quarter ensured there was plenty of box-office appeal.
There were plenty of players with points to prove as well. Jack O’Donoghue would be top of that list. The Munster flanker – operating at No 8 last night – was a curious omission from Andy Farrell’s 45man squad for the recent preChristmas Ireland training camp. He was everywhere in the opening quarter, getting up to disrupt an early Leinster attack and causing general mayhem at the breakdown.
Speaking of snubs, Devin Toner has been a man possessed this season. A shock omission from Joe Schmidt’s World Cup plans, the Leinster lock has been superb in recent months and carried on in a similar vein here.
And it was Leinster who struck first in Thomond Park, and it was all a little too easy when James Lowe’s scything break laid the platform for Ed Byrne to bulldoze his way over the Munster line a few phases later. Ross Byrne added the extras to make it 7-0.
Playing against a stiff breeze, Munster were faced with a dilemma: play territory or play ball – but they were struggling to do either. Nick McCarthy, another Leinster rookie who set off for Limerick in search of more exposure, was struggling to get any purchase on his box kicks, while the Munster pack, despite the best efforts of Dave Kilcoyne, Billy Holland and Fineen Wycherley, were struggling to make any dents in a watertight Leinster defence. It certainly helps when you have a tackler of Connors’ calibre in your ranks. He is very much in the Dan Lydiate class of chop tackler. Byrne, such a calm, assured out-half,
smashed over a brace of penalties as the frustrated hosts began to infringe and draw the ire of a referee Frank Murphy, a Corkman who showed no signs of bias here.
Munster were facing down the barrel at 13-0 but a JJ Hanrahan penalty just before the break gave them something to show for their first-half efforts.
A 10-point lead did not seem insurmountable with the wind on the backs for the second half, but all Munster could muster after the break was a single Hanrahan penalty. Scant reward for a night of toil.
Leinster gave them nothing. They remain a ruthlessly efficient operation.
MUNSTER: M Haley; D Goggin (C Nash 77), S Arnold, R Scannell, S Daly; JJ Hanrahan (J Carbery 57), N McCarthy (N Cronin 66); D Kilcoyne (J Loughman 52), K O’Byrne (D Barron 74), S Archer (K Knox 55); F Wycherley, B Holland (capt); T O’Donnell (D O’Shea 74), C Cloete (J O’Sullivan 55), J O’Donoghue.
ScoRERS: Pens - Hanrahan (2).
LEINSTER: H Keenan; A Byrne, J O’Brien, C O’Brien (C Frawley 59), J Lowe; R Byrne (T O’Brien 80), R Osborne (H O’Sullivan 65); E Byrne (P Dooley 52), J Tracy (S Cronin 52), A Porter (J Aungier 74); D Toner, S Fardy (capt); J Murphy (R Molony 65), W Connors (S Penny 77), C Doris. ScoRERS: Try - E Byrne; con - R Byrne; Pens - R Byrne (2).
REfEREE: Frank Murphy (Ireland).