Munster fall to dominant Leinster in pre-season opener

A sold-out crowd of 8,400 crammed into the Cork venue that was baked in sunshine and they saw Leinster breeze past Munster.

RUN-OUT: Jamie Osborne of Leinster in action against Munster players, from left, Simon Zebo, Stephen Archer and Shane Daly. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Munster 12 Leinster 33

On the same night France opened the Rugby World Cup against New Zealand in Paris, Leinster opened their pre-season programme with a convincing victory against their arch-rivals Munster at Musgrave Park.

Given that Ireland’s own World Cup campaign was set to begin just 20 and a half hours after the action got underway in this friendly, you would be forgiven for letting this fixture slip under the radar.

Yet still, a sold-out crowd of 8,400 crammed into the famous old venue that was baked in sunshine and they saw Leinster breeze past Munster.

"When you look at the scoreline it's disappointing for sure," admitted Munster coach Mike Prendergast.

"There was some good individual performances but I just thought in terms of the collision side we came up a bit short in the first half but we improved in the second half.

"Overall pre-season games are never straightforward, there is mistakes but there definitely is aspects of it that we were quite happy with and we know where we want to go."

But it was the hosts that got on the scoreboard first with less than three minutes on the clock as Scott Buckley bundled his way over the line after a sustained period of pressure with Tony Butler soon firing over the conversion.

It was the perfect start for home fans, many of whom took the opportunity to pose for pictures with the URC Cup that Munster landed last season before kick-off.

They had to overcome Leinster in the semi-finals en route to that significant triumph – their first piece of silverware won in 12 years – but Leo Cullen’s men would exact some sort of revenge here.

They levelled the scores just five minutes later when Jason Jenkins burst through the opposition and touched down close to goal, with Ciarán Frawley easily adding the extras.

Leinster edged in front midway through the first half when Lee Barron forced his way over the line although Frawley’s kick clipped the outside of the near post.

It mattered little though as the visitors continued to assert their dominance and further tries from Tommy O’Brien, who ran home from the halfway line, and Barron for his second – both converted by Frawley - gave them a commanding 26-7 advantage at the interval.

In a tame second period, both sides emptied their bench in a reminder that the main objective of this non-competitive match was to get minutes into the legs of their respective squads.

But Leinster would continue to dominate proceedings and they extended their lead just past the hour thanks to Max Deegan before substitute Charlie Tector split the uprights.

That would provide many with the opportunity to head for home, or to the nearest telly that would be showing the action at the Stade de France, and they would miss Stephen Kiely’s consolation try late on.

Scorers for Munster:

Tries: S Buckley, S Kiely.

Cons: T Butler.

Scorers for Leinster:

Tries: L Barron (2), J Jenkins, T O’Brien, M Deegan.

Cons: C Frawley (3), C Tector.

MUNSTER: S Zebo; A Conway, S Daly, R Scannell, C Nash; T Butler, N Cronin; J Wycherley, S Buckley, S Archer; G Coombes, F Wycherley; J O’Donoghue (C), J Hodnett, A Kendellen.

Replacements: C Moore, K Ryan, J Ryan, E O’Connell, J Daly, R Quinn, E Coughlan, F Gibbons, S Kiely, S McCarthy.

LEINSTER: J Larmour; T O’Brien, L Turner, B Brownlee, R Russell; C Frawley, C Foley; J Doyle, L Barron, R McGuire; B Denny, J Jenkins; M Deegan, S Penny (C), J Culhane.

Replacements: G McCarthy, P McCarthy, T Lasisi, R Molony, C O’Tighearnaigh, D Mangan, W Connors, L McGrath, S Prendergast, C Tector, A Osborne, J Osborne, A King, C Cosgrave.

Referee: Peter Mark.