Ferocious Reds win all the major battles
Defeating Matt O’Connor’s boys in blue would have been a sweet enough experience in isolation, but Munster’s victory completed a first league double over Leinster since 2008-09 and stopped a three-game losing streak that had seen them lose back to back European games to Clermont Auvergne and then blow a winning position against Guinness Pro12 leadership rivals Glasgow in Scotstoun. And all with both side’s Ireland frontliners watching from the stands, rested under the national team’s player welfare programme while many of those that did start spent part of the week with Joe Schmidt at Ireland training camp.
Other teams, head coach Anthony Foley speculated, might have withdrawn “into their shell” in the wake of three straight defeats. “It seemed to go the opposite for the boys,” he added, no doubt with some pride.
“They came out and went after the game from minute one. Obviously everything is disrupted around Christmas, so we’ll be looking for Santa to come the day before every game.
“The disruption didn’t faze them at all. They went out about their job and got on with the game, and played with a good tempo and a good physicality.”
This three tries to one win, then, got Foley’s side back on track and was as thoroughly deserved as his side’s victory over Leinster at the Aviva back on October 4. Munster were much the brighter and more intense, contesting fiercely at the breakdown, retaining ball much better than in previous weeks, stealing lineout ball and crucially winning the aerial battles.
It was the first such mid-air scrap that set the tone for this St Stephen’s evening dust-up, Munster wing Andrew Conway beating Leinster full-back Zane Kirchner to the ball as Duncan Williams launched a box kick from inside his 22 to clear Ian Madigan’s kick-off.
From there on, Munster looked sharper and hungrier for the majority of this contest, a fact not lost on visiting head coach O’Connor, who had seen his side outplayed in the first quarter, after a penalty from Ian Keatley and try from CJ Stander.
“I thought we prepared very well even given the circumstances of the week (with players in Ireland camp),” O’Connor said. “I thought we were in a pretty good head space coming into the game. We let ourselves down in that first 20 minutes and away from home, especially at a place like this, you can’t afford to get it wrong the way we did in the first 20 minutes because the home crowd get excited and the home team build confidence from there. That was the most disappointing thing and we didn’t strangle the game back and Munster just got better and better.
The inaccuracies and the errors took the impetus away from us and grew Munster’s belief, which was probably the difference in the end.”
That Madigan had kicked two penalties in reply was of little comfort for even though Leinster trailed just 8-6 at the half-hour, they then fell off the pace more dramatically and another 30 minutes later, Munster were 28-6 up.
A Keatley penalty had sent them into an 11-6 half-time lead and another strong start to the second period produced a try for Conway, Keatley converting.
He had another shot at goal when Darragh Fanning went around the corner at a ruck, his impulsive dash earning a yellow card from referee Nigel Owens and with that critical moment, Leinster were dead and buried conceding 10 points when short numbered with substitute back row Dave O’Callaghan, on as a second-half replacement for Tommy O’Donnell, driving home the final nail with a try on the hour.
There was rally from Leinster, captain Shane Jennings with a try 10 minutes from time, but the visitors never really looked like getting back into this game or even coming close to a losing bonus point and Munster’s defence was more than able to snuff out such notions.
The only concerns for Munster as they turn their attentions to a New Year’s Day trip to Connacht will be regarding back rows Robin Copeland, who suffered a shoulder injury, and O’Donnell, forced out with a split lip too wide to stitch, while full-back and captain Felix Jones also came off with a shoulder problem.
Otherwise, things are definitely looking up for Foley as he heads into 2015 in much better spirits than might have been expected ahead of kick-off.
Munster scorers: Tries: Stander, Conway, D. O’Callaghan. Cons: Keatley 2. Pens: Keatley 3.
MUNSTER: F Jones – captain (J Murphy, 72); A Conway, P Howard, D Hurley (JJ Hanrahan, 58), R O’Mahony; I Keatley, D Williams (N Cronin, 76); J Ryan (E Guinazu, 64), D Casey (K O’Byrne, 66), S Archer (BJ Botha, 58); Donncha O’Callaghan, B Holland; CJ Stander, T O’Donnell (Dave O’Callaghan, 51), R Copeland (P Butler, 26).
Leinster scorers: Try: Jennings. Con: Madigan. Pens: Madigan 2.
LEINSTER: Z Kirchner; D Fanning (J Gopperth, 64), L Fitzgerald, G D’Arcy, D Kearney; I Madigan, I Boss (L McGrath, 64); M Bent, R Strauss (A Dundon, 72), T Furlong; M McCarthy (T Denton, 72), K Douglas; D Ryan (J Murphy, 15), S Jennings – captain, J Conan.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales).
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