Defence forces the issue for Leinster

Leinster 17 Munster 15

But that’s not Kidney’s style and, always the pragmatist, he reckoned Munster played enough rugby to have shaded this enthralling contest at Donnybrook on Saturday evening.

But as Kidney pointed to Leinster’s heroic defence being the key to winning this battle, Munster counterpart Alan Gaffney had yet to come to terms with his side succumbing to two first half sucker punches that yielded two tries for Leinster and ultimately sent Munster crashing to their second defeat from three matches.