Dan Leavy proud of Blues brothers’ resistance to Thomond roar

No wonder Dan Leavy stood over the prone bodies of Munster forwards doing his best impression of The Hulk as Nigel Owens raised his arm for the Leinster penalty.

The back-rower in blue had just turned the course of the game to the exasperation of the home crowd at Thomond Park and strangled the life out of Munster’s final realistic hope of successfully overturning the visitors’ 27-19 advantage in the 68th minute of a thrilling St Stephen’s Day derby encounter.

The final nail in the red coffin would come two minutes later when academy full-back Jordan Larmour took Limerick by storm with a stunning solo try to deliver a try bonus point for Leinster with Ross Byrne’s penalty leaving Munster with a 15-point deficit that would prove to be too big a gap to bridge but it was Leavy’s work over the ball as the home side built phase after phase in the Leinster 22, forcing ball carrier James Cronin to concede a penalty, that was the real hammer blow, the crucial turning point as far as home head coach Johann van Graan was concerned.

“Yeah, I got pretty excited after that one,” Leavy admitted. “So much so I had Nigel laughing at me and I had to apologise. Yeah, I was happy.

“When the lads dig in like that and defend it was 20-plus phases and then come away with a positive result like that, it just shows the strength of the brothers and just how hard the team works for each other. It was brilliant.

“The start of the second half they clawed their way back into the game a bit and showed good resilience and what not to fight back.

"Jordan did really well to make that break and score a try. When you have the whole of Thomond Park screaming against you and they were rumbling like that I thought we did very well to get stuck in.”

That 68th-minute turnover was not the only highlight Leavy can look forward to during Leinster’s review of Tuesday’s Guinness PRO14 victory. He had set his stall out in the opening seconds, clamping down on the ball as Munster wing Alex Wootton collected the kick-off and carried into contact, providing the penalty kick for Byrne that led to a very early 3-0 lead for Leo Cullen’s side.

In the ninth minute, he was the recipient of his fly-half’s good work, collecting the cross-kick in the corner to run in for the opening try that gave Leinster a 13-0 lead after as many minutes.

That Leavy, 23, stood out among the six starting back rows and two replacements made him an obvious candidate for the man of the match award and some small compensation for having to miss the November international window due to injury.

It also did him no harm at all in the ongoing battle for selection in Leinster’s back row as the province faces into the New Year’s Day derby with Connacht at the RDS on Monday and the visit of Ulster five days later.

“It is very competitive at Leinster, so you take your opportunities when you get them. I think I put my hand up well today and we have a quick turnaround, there are a few more opportunities to play before Europe again. It’s important to keep the foot on the throttle and we’ll go again.

“(Connacht) had a great win against Ulster. They have been in the final and are in form under a new coach so they will be a real threat to us. It’s always a good game at the RDS, Connacht-Leinster, and hopefully we’ll get a full house at that. I’m looking forward to playing against them.”

Leavy promised that Leinster would not ease off against Connacht just because they had completed the double over Munster thanks to Tuesday’s Thomond Park victory.

“I think they beat up Ulster so it’s going to be a physical encounter and we have got to be ready for that,” he said. “You could have all the excuses in the world after coming down here and getting a good win but we need to make sure we are right... We’re not aiming to lose. We’ll give it everything and there will be a few lads coming in and raring to go.”