Familiar woes continue as Munster suffer more capital pain
Leinster’s Caelan Doris celebrates winning a penalty as Conor Murray of Munster looks on
For whole regiments of the immobilised Red Army stranded near and far, Johann van Graan’s rhetorical question before kick-off would have sounded a bit ominous:
"Who knows what can happen in 80 minutes?" asked Munster’s South African head coach, as if giving the gods a gentle reminder that it was high time they got round to applying one of life’s more ancient laws, the one about averages averaging out.
Some of those confined to barracks on both sides of the Irish Sea by the pandemic might have managed to give it a similarly positive spin, that maybe the tide of history really was about to change and not before time.
When used in the context of Munster on knockout business in Dublin, the theory about who knows what will happen simply doesn’t apply. Those who follow the fortunes of Ireland’s two biggest rugby tribes know only too well what will happen and it duly happened again last night when the skies wept as if sympathy for a fixture which will have cost the Irish game millions more in lost revenue.
A deserted stadium added to the emptiness of the occasion, an all too familiar emotion for Munster and semi-finals. They have now lost ten out of ten in nine seasons, five in Europe, five in the PRO12-14, a losing streak made all the harder to bear given that Leinster have now reached their tenth final in eleven seasons.
What makes it even worse from a Munster perspective, if that’s possible, is that Leinster made it without being required to do anything out of the ordinary. For all the extraordinary nature of their squad and the embarrassment of riches in every position, the champions showed last night they can always match the occasion.
Leinster can win ugly with the best of them when the conditions and the opposition demands, a mood in keeping with a forgettable match. Their relatively comfortable passage into a third successive final exposed Munster’s chronic lack of creativity.
It raised some serious questions. What’s the point of controlling most of the first half and turning round four points behind? Conor Murray’s box-kicking may have troubled Leinster a fortnight earlier but why persist with kicking possession away?
All but one of his kicks during the first half ended up in Leinster hands. Damian de Allende talked about his new team’s having all the credentials to win the big matches at home and in Europe only to discover that winning a World Cup against England in Japan is infinitely less difficult than trying to knock Leinster out in Dublin.
When the Springbok centre threatened to unhinge Leinster’s midfield, who should hold him up in the tackle and force the turn-over but none other than Johnny Sexton, his relish for the physical part of the job undimmed by the passing years.
Leinster didn’t create much either but then they didn’t have to do. They got the only try, one questionable enough to have warranted forensic examination by the TMO, Brian McNeece. His verdict in referee Andrew Brace’s ear sounded less than decisive: ‘’There’s not enough evidence to overrule your decision.’’ Ronan Kelleher got the benefit of the doubt and Munster will have been further peeved by the penalty which allowed Sexton to widen the lead to seven points. Some heroic work by Shane Daly counted for nothing and it was hardly O’Mahony’s fault that he found himself trapped into conceding the kick at the next break-down.
Munster had further cause to feel hard-done-by when Andrew Porter obstructed Murray going for a high ball. Leinster’s tighthead got away with conceding nothing more than a penalty when a stricter referee would have binned him for a deliberate foul.
Two minutes before that incident JJ Hanrahan missed a shot at goal. Two minutes after it, the same player, winner of the Golden Boot, missed another from straight in front. Sexton promptly showed him how it was done and from possibly being one point behind, Munster were ten behind and beyond redemption.
It would be stretching a point to say Sexton ran the show because there really wasn’t one. Nobody has ever questioned Munster’s desire as typified by Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander and yet they will know that it takes more to outpoint a team smart enough to see Saracens off in their next semi-final, at the same venue in a fortnight’s time.
Munster will be resting for the new season, the old one having dribbled down the drain. Beating Leinster in the capital remains as far beyond their reach as it’s ever been.
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