All-powerful Leinster seal fourth straight title
JACK Conan led the way as Leinster captured their eighth PRO14 title and fourth in a row with a victory which was far more convincing than the final scoreline would suggest.
Munster again failed to deliver on the big occasion and never looked like ending the longest period without silverware in their history.
Johann van Graan’s men, searching for their first title in a decade, never raised a gallop against the defending champions and fell to a sixth successive defeat to their arch rivals for the first time in history in a poor final at the RDS.
“It took us 57 players this season to get us here so it is really a great squad effort,” said Leinster captain Luke McGrath.
“I thought the pack was brilliant, especially in defence. We were put under a lot of pressure by Munster there, they are an outstanding side, especially in that second half. We had to dig deep and thankfully we did.”
Leinster dominated in every facet with a superb back row of Rhys Ruddock, Josh van der Flier and Conan leading the way.
Hooker Ronan Kelleher constantly blasted holes in the Munster rearguard and Devin Toner, becoming Leinster’s most capped player on his 262nd appearance, used all his experience to drive them to a fourth title in a row.
Leinster enjoyed 68 per cent possession in the opening half but even with Munster guilty of 17 missed tackles, the champions couldn’t make their dominance count and the sides went in level 6-6 at the break.
Leinster didn’t help their cause by conceding seven penalties to Munster’s three in that period, but a side which had struck for 82 tries on their way to the final looked blunt throughout the opening half.
Munster really needed an early foothold but Leinster dominated the opening period and slipped into a 6-0 lead after 12 minutes with two Ross Byrne penalties which did scant justice to the 93 per cent possession they enjoyed in that period.
And while Leinster rarely looked like getting a try to cement that strong start, they laid down a marker and simply starved Munster of possession, not allowing them the oxygen to mount a challenge.
Munster were gifted a penalty when Ruddock unnecessarily came in from the side and Joey Carbery slotted the kick from in front of the posts to make it 6-3 after 13 minutes.
Leinster piled on the pressure after that but a combination of sloppiness and some good defending meant this was not reflected on the scoreboard.
A blindside break by Kelleher almost saw him get over in the left corner but Andrew Conway executed an excellent talent.
Leinster kept pressing and a combination of Gavin Coombes and CJ Stander did well to prevent Scott Hardy grounding the ball after an initial surge by the impressive Robbie Henshaw.
There was a let-off for Munster when Van der Flier was guilty of crossing as he tried to get out of the way as Kelleher again made serious ground with ball in hand, while Chris Farrell nabbed Henshaw as he raced for the line after a break from deep by full-back Hugo Keenan eight minutes from the break.
Munster, with Gavin Coombes and Stander impressing, finally managed to get out of their own half and a build some phases.
Carbery had the distance but not the accuracy from a 52-metre penalty and then one from 40 metres on the right came back off the near post as Munster finished the half strongly.
Carbery sent them in level when he made no mistake from 30 metres in front of the posts after a high tackle by Conan on Conor Murray.
But Leinster got their act together after the restart and after Conan was denied by a combination of Niall Scannell and Tadhg Beirne over the line, they got several drives going off the scrum and Conan this time squeezed over, with Bynre converting for 13-6.
Munster’s hopes were further dashed when skipper Peter O’Mahony went off after being injured trying to defend his line.
Leinster began unloading their stronger bench to close out the game with Tadhg Furlong, Johnny Sexton and Ryan Baird entering the fray as they took a seven-point lead into the final quarter.
Sexton lasted just six
minutes before going off for an HIA after getting clipped by a stray boot on the ground.
Byrne came back on and extended the lead with an excellent penalty from 35 metres on the right after another break by Conan following a brilliant touchfinder from scrum-half Luke McGrath.
A disappointing final for Carbery ended with his replacement by JJ Hanrahan for the final ten minutes with Craig Casey coming in for Conor Murray as Van Graan tried to fashion an unlikely revival.
But they never fired a shot in another bitterly disappointing display.