Leo’s champions are a class above
LEO Cullen didn’t care that his side won ugly – they qualified for a fourth PRO14 final in five years with victory over arch rivals Munster.
A first-half try from hooker Ronán Kelleher and Johnny Sexton’s accuracy from the tee proved the difference for the reigning champions.
Munster failed to even look like crossing Leinster’s tryline, while JJ Hanrahan – the league’s golden boot winner – had an uncharacteristic off day in front of the posts.
Leinster have now won 24 consecutive competitive games, a run that stretches back to the end of the 201819 season.
While there have been plenty of stylish wins along the way, this was certainly not one of them.
Ball handling was tricky on a wet evening, while both sides elected to test each other with a seemingly endless stream of box kicking.
“You’ve got to be very accurate against a team like that when all they want to do is box kick and apply that pressure game,” Leinster director of rugby Cullen said.
“Being honest, the game was not a great spectacle but for us, all that matters is winning and getting through to the final.
“It was pretty an ugly contest, but it was always going to be a bit of a dogfight against Munster.”
Cullen’s sideswipe at Munster’s gameplan was returned by their coach Johann van Graan who repsonded: “They stuck to their box kicking as well.”
In truth Munster failed to land a blow all night. They bossed most of the first half but could only put three points on the board thanks to Hanrahan’s sixth minute penalty.
By the interval they had two thirds of possession and territory but they trailed 10-3.
Leinster were well in control and they let their defence soak up Munster’s tepid forays – their back row led the line with a brilliant tackling display – while Kelleher’s try after 28 minutes came from Leinster’s first determined attack.
There was heavy suspicion of a double movement by Kelleher as he wriggled his way from the base of a maul to the try-line, but the TMO ruled that there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the on-field decision by Andrew Brace.
On the cusp of the interval Sexton added a penalty to stretch the lead to 10-3 and the concession of two penalties in the opening three minutes of the second period did little to help Munster’s cause as the champions began to turn the screw.
There was a let-off for Leinster when Hanrahan failed to hit the target with a penalty from 40 metres, while he somehow pulled another penalty wide after 64 minutes. That miss from Hanrahan was made more costly when Sexton made it 13-3 with a superb kick from 25 metres near the right touchline.
Leinster conceded a string of penalties which resulted in flanker saw Josh van der Flier sinbinned four minutes from time, less than a minute after he was introduced – but Leinster easily held on to win.
“The missed kicks were crucial. We had limited opportunities in a semifinal and we didn’t convert our opportunities,” said van Graan.
“We win together and we lose together. We’ll take those penalties as a group. I thought we built a lot of pressure between the 50th and 65th minute, and then we didn’t convert those chances.”