Leinster 28; Munster 7
It was once a fixture which favored the host but long gone is the day since Munster have been Leinster’s equal in the the BKT United Rugby Championship or indeed the Champions Cup.
These days Leinster are the rulers of all they survey on the Irish front and Munster is, well one of the minions who are unable to deal with the strength in depth of the eastern province.
With most of the Leinster boys playing for province and country, their power and precision is almost always superior whether it is in defending their lines or creating blue waves of attack which in this case once more yielded a bonus point victory.
Except for a recurring problem of failing at the last hurdle in the big finals these past four years, Leinster’s consistency has been remarkable and this year is no exception.
With the likes of Springbok R.G. Snyman and All Black Jordie Barrett added to the squad, the side is already the shining light across the continent with nine wins out of as many starts.
Without a full starting line-up, Head Coach Leo Cullen still had too much fire power and know-how for their opponents who lacked nothing in gaining possession, but then found they could hardly penetrate the phalanx the visitors threw up.
Conversely when they got the opportunity to shift into attack, they did so with blinding hand and foot speed. This allowed stand-in scrum-half Luke McGrath, recently appointed No 1 outhalf Sam Prendergast and former World player of the year Josh van der Flier to get in from tries to put the game to bed 10 minutes before we had reached the hour mark.
Prendergast got in on the cusp of half time to make it 14-0 when the side was down to 14 men. It looked that easy but then when Tom Ahern dipped down for a converted try, it looked as if stand-in Head Coach Ian Costello might yet get a tune out of the Munster fiddle.
The play suggested otherwise as the host seldom got past the first lines of defense and instead it was Leinster who sallied upfield to kill off the game with the inevitable Caelan Doris burst across the line to secure the bonus point victory seven minutes from the end.
In retrospect, the Munster men had their best chance of causing an upset early doors when they looked two golden opportunities in the face when they were on the Leinster line but were unable to keep their composure to finish the job on both occasions.
Later in the half with Tommy O’Brien in the sin bin, they managed to get across the line through Tadhg Beirne but centre Garry Ringrose kept his body between the lock and the ground to win a drop out instead of concede a try.
Cullen was upbeat following a victory in a venue which used to spell trouble for Leinster but has seen them go unbeaten there over the past seven seasons.
“It's great to get a win down here, because it's difficult to win down here, and it's difficult to score four tries down here,” explained Cullen. “We started the game pretty well, we go 7-0 in front and had to soak up a lot of pressure after that, and eventually Tommy goes to the bin, but we managed to clear our lines and work our way up the field, and after a good bit of pressure on their try-line Sam gets over. How we managed that period with 14 players was good in terms of outcome, playing quite sensibly.
“Munster came back pretty strong in the second half and get in for a try, but it’s good that we managed to hit back straight away. Those periods were quite important during the game. All the bench guys added pretty well, so it was a good 23-man effort," he stressed.
Interim coach Ian Costello bemoaned Munster’s wasted efforts in attack, stating: “It's disappointing that the game got away on us but when you play a side like Leinster, of that quality, that's what happens if you're inaccurate in any areas. They had five chances five metres out from the line, they took four. We had four quick taps and a five-metre lineout and converted one.
“And our scrum was under pressure as well. If you're off in any area against Leinster, unfortunately you can be on the end of a scoreline like that. But it's pretty frustrating based on some of the positive elements of our performance, unfortunately,” he emphasized.
Leinster: J Osborne; T O’Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J O’Brien; S Prendergast, L McGrath; J Boyle, R Kelleher, R Slimani; J McCarthy, J Ryan; R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris (capt) Replacements: L Barron (for Kelleher, 63), A Porter (for Boyle, 22), C Healy (for Slimani, 51), B Deeny (for Ryan, 74), S Penny (73), F Gunne (for McGrath, 51), R Byrne (for Prendergast, 63), J Larmour (for Ringrose, 73).
Munster: M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, R Scannell, S Daly; B Burns, E Coughlan; D Bleuler, N Scannell, O Jager; F Wycherley, T Beirne (capt); T Ahern, A Kendellen, G Coombes Replacements: E Clarke (for N Scannell, 22-35 HIA and 73), K Ryan (for Bleuler, 73), J Ryan (for Jager, 54), B Gleeson (for Kendellen, 65), J Hodnett (for Wycherley, 40), P Patterson (for Coughlan, 50), T Butler (for Burns, 65), B O’Connor.
Ref: S Grove-White (SRU).
Leinster scorers: Tries: Luke McGrath, Sam Prendergast, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris Cons: Sam Prendergast (3), Ross Byrne (1).
Munster scorers: Tries: Tom Ahern Cons: Billy Burns.
Ulster too strong for Connacht
Ulster 17; Connacht 7
Connacht are a much better team than their 13th place in the BKT URC table suggests but with six losses out of nine starts in this competition, the table doesn’t lie.
Another home reverse, this time to Ulster could adversely affect the side as they go about getting something out of their season.
Connacht boss Pete Wilkins was sanguine when declaring: “Any loss is disappointing but knowing the context of the impact it would have on our season if we won or lost, it’s massive and it adds to the frustration of the performance. We’re significantly behind where we should be... there are plenty of games left in the season to make that up.To lose the game is a massive blow but we’ll regroup,” he pledged.
Connacht trailed by 107 at the break in a half where they were all at sea. While they were good in winning their two European matches in December, the league is a different matter and despite exhortations to the contrary, they failed to find anything on the changeover which suggested they might have a cut at getting close to Ulster on the scoreboard before the end.
Said Wilkins: The key bit of that is that we got into the attacking 22 a number of times and created some great opportunities but balls were spilled in contact, or players went for one offload too many.
“We just needed to have greater composure, keep working through the phases and make Ulster work through their defensive phases and I have a feeling they might have broken but we never took them to that place. Full credit to them, all areas of their game out-performed us.”
