A front-row seat to glimpse Ireland’s future

It will be small compensation to Connacht’s Eric Elwood following yet another narrow defeat but Declan Kidney left the Sportsgrounds on Saturday night with an encouraging glimpse of Ireland’s front-row future.

Munster staged a smash-and-grab raid in Galway to take the spoils in this RaboDirect Pro12 encounter of typically inter-provincial intensity. Having applied considerable pressure on the visitors for long periods, two defensive lapses from Connacht undid their good work and let in Simon Zebo and Tommy O’Donnell for second-half tries that propelled Munster back into second place in the table.

And while Elwood was left to rue a seventh losing bonus point of the season rather than the deserved four, there was some solace in the performances of his props Ronan Loughney and Brett Wilkinson.