Reality check for Munster

THE bonus point Munster secured by finishing within seven of Leinster at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night keeps them in Magners League pole position, but their Heineken Cup aspirations have taken a battering.

Munster head for the Madejski Stadium and a clash with Aviva Premiership leaders London Irish on Saturday conscious that their lack of try-scoring abilities was ruthlessly highlighted by Leinster who, themselves, will hardly bristle with confidence at the prospects of taking on French outfit, Racing Metro.

A magnificent try from Irish skipper Brian O’Driscoll provided the inspiration for Leinster’s fifth successive win over their old rivals in a match of high intensity but of low quality in which the amount of turnovers was inexplicable.

Neither Leinster’s Joe Schmidt, or Tony McGahan, the respective coaches, could convincingly write off the horrible statistics (Leinster 18, Munster 14) although both attempted to do so.

Schmidt explained: “Conditions were tougher than they looked, the surface was very firm but it was very slippery on top, so guys were losing their footing. But credit Munster who put a lot of pressure on in the ruck and then in the tackle. When you get a ball under pressure on a slippery surface, on a drizzly night, things can go wrong. Maybe we tried to overplay it in the first half and created problems for ourselves.”

Schmidt can be pleased with his side’s second half creativity if not their general finishing, and relieved that Jonathan Sexton received some much-needed game time ahead of their Europe adventure. Schmidt will also keep his fingers crossed that Saturday’s captain Jamie Heaslip recovers from a shoulder injury sustained in the 30th minute.

McGahan’s only positive reflection was that his side secured a bonus point which keeps them atop the table.

“It (the defeat) was disappointing, but we’ve 19 points, top of the table so we will keep it in perspective.”

On the basis of this display, however, there will have to be huge improvement in every department. There wasn’t much difference between the respective packs but inspiration appears to be lacking behind this Munster scrum and it is difficult to see where the tries are going to come from.

London Irish scored four in the demolition of Leeds Carnegie this weekend while Munster struggle to create any decent scoring chances, coming closest in the latter stages through a series of pick and drives from the pack. That particular series of assaults ended, predictably, with a turnover.

Apart from O’Driscoll’s try, converted by Nacewa, when he was sent in by flanker Sean O’Brien, it was nip and tuck all the way. Munster had most of the territory in the first half while Leinster enjoyed the majority of it in the second.

With tries at a premium, Ronan O’Gara kicked the visitors into the lead after three minutes and came close to kicking another after 31 minutes with the sides on three points apiece after Nacewa equalised on 23 minutes.

In the opening half, the sides turned over possession 10 times apiece – symptomatic of a nervous evening – and the half yielded nothing more than a penalty apiece.

It grew more exciting in the second half with O’Gara and Nacewa exchanging penalties before the former added another (9-6), at a stage when Munster were down to 14 after Lifeimi Mafi was yellow carded for a high tackle on Rob Kearney. Leinster were denied tries by Johne Murphy and Mafi as the pressure was cranked up following the introduction of Reddan and Sexton. They will settle for the match-winner from O’Driscoll, however, while Munster didn’t have anything quite as potent in reserve and will be seriously troubled that this apparent lack of strike power behind the scrum could cost them dearly in five days’ time.

LEINSTER: R Kearney, S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald, I Nacewa, I Boss, C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, N Hines, D Toner, D Ryan, J Heaslip (captain), S O’Brien.

Replacements: E Reddan for Boss, J Sexton for Horgan (both 56), H Van der Merwe for Healy (61), S Shawe for Ross (69), R Ruddock for Heaslip (74 injured).

MUNSTER: P Warwick, D Howlett, L Mafi, S Tuitupou, J Murphy, R O’Gara, T O’Leary, W du Preez, D Varley, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, D Ryan, A Quinlan, D Leamy (captain), N Ronan.

Replacements: D Wallace for Quinlan (57), M Horan for du Preez , M O’Driscoll for Ryan (both 63).

Referee: J Garces (France).