Munster Vs Leinster Review
Leinster ascended to the summit of the Guinness Pro 12 with a nervy 16-13 win over Munster at the Aviva Stadium. Leinster welcomed back a number of key men no more so than Jonathan Sexton who led the way to the Leinster win by contributing all 16 points including a try that saw him bump into the padding around the post before touching down.
Leinster will say that a strong scrum and a resolute teak tough defence led them to a win that will give them huge confidence heading into to the last few games of the regular season. They just seemed sharper than Munster in particular at the breakdown even though this aspect of the game was an utter mess and it didn’t help either scrum half deliver good fast ball for both back lines.
Munster gave a start at out half to Johnny Holland who has been around the Munster squad for a few years although injury has slowed his progress and he did very well for a man restricted to a few cameo’s up until Zebre last weekend.
In the pack Munster welcomed back CJ Stander at the base of the scrum while Donnacha Ryan partnered Billy Holland in the engine room and Stephen Archer was preferred to the ever improving John Ryan at tight head prop.
Leinster for their part looked cagey at times in the opening half hour this wasn’t helped by some very poor line out play and a very suspect scrum that only improved when Mike Ross replaced Tadgh Furlong in the latter stages of the second half. Jonathan Sexton gave a vintage display at 10 while also making one or two errors with some wild passing.
Leinster will be disappointed to lose Ben Te’o at the end of this season as his partnership with young Gary Ringrose is developing into a fine partnership as this season begins to turn for home and with a home Semi Final still up for grabs every point still counts. Ringrose for his part showed glimpses of his undoubted talent with one or two breaks that would remind you of another much famed Leinster number 13.
He has a very unique running style that makes it extremely difficult to tackle him or deny space. He is also solid in defence as he had some work to do as both Francais Saili and Rory Scannell came down his channel, there is a future centre partnership for Ireland, Scannell and Ringrose!! that’s for another day…
Munster were 10-6 down at half time and could have been further behind had referee Ian Davies deemed Simon Zebo’s late intervention where he seemed to knock the ball into touch with his arm but even with Eoin Reddan in his ear referee Davies didn’t bat an eye lid and so at half time it was 10-6 to Leinster.
In the second half, Munster needed to start fast as they had been reduced to 14 men after Robin Copeland on for concussion victim Donnacha Ryan was binned for coming in at the side of an advancing Leinster maul.
Start fast they did at Munster upped the tempo with Murray and Holland leading the charge that ended in the left corner with Johnny Holland crashing over to put Munster in front 11-10 and Holland also converted from the touchline to put Munster 13-10 up and as it seemed in control but alas this dominance didn’t last long as Sexton knocked over a penalty to tie the game at 13-13 and at this point Ian Keatley came on for Johnny Holland he had a chance to push Munster 16-13 up but he pushed his effort wide of the mark and Johnny Sexton kicked a penalty on 63 minutes to put Leinster in front a lead they didn’t relinquish and although Munster pushed hard for a try that would get them back in front and they had a few late attempts to cross the Leinster line through a resurgent maul that almost payed dividends but for Ben Te’o to come to the rescue with a huge hit on Dave Kilcoyne. Thus ended Munster’s last chance at a win over Leinster. Leinster go top while Munster are 6th and seriously in danger of missing out on European Champions Cup next year with Edinburgh ready to pounce on any other Munster mishap.
A huge few weeks ahead for both sides for totally different reasons but none the less important. Coaches Foley and Cullen will earn their wages over the closing weeks of a mixed season for both teams…
By
Cian Mc Gibney
03/04/2016
