Beirne and Crowley rise to occasion as rampant Munster roar past Leinster at Croke Park
HEAR ME ROAR: Jack Crowley of Munster celebrates after his side win a penalty during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Munster claimed their first URC league derby away victory over Leinster in 11 years and ended a four-game losing streak to their interprovincial rivals with a gutsy performance in front of 51,859 supporters at GAA headquarters on Saturday.
The bonus-point win was well-deserved to give new head coach Clayton McMillan his fourth-straight win since joining from Super Rugby’s Chiefs in the close season and repeat predecessor Anthony Foley’s feat of winning his first derby in this fixture as a Munster boss.
Munster had enjoyed a URC semi-final victory over their rivals on their way to the 2022-23 title but this was an altogether more impressive performance against a virtually full-strength Leinster side. McMillan’s side did it having gone 7-0 down to an early try from Ronan Kelleher, converted by Sam Prendergast to score 31 unanswered points through tries from Brian Gleeson, Tom Farrell and Ethan Coughlan before half-time to lead 21-7 at the break.
Jack Crowley had converted all three scores and then added a penalty after the interval as he outshone Ireland fly-half rival Prendergast in their first head-to-head meeting of their careers, picking up the man of the match award a fortnight out from Ireland’s meeting with New Zealand in Chicago.
A penalty try late on delivered the bonus point before Leinster scored at the death through replacement Scott Penny, converted by Prendergast, but it was not nearly enough to avoid a third defeat in their first four games as the reigning champions.
Leinster boss Leo Cullen had been forced into two late changes to his starting line-up after wing Tommy O’Brien (back) and No.8 and matchday captain Jack Conan (knee), both Ireland call-ups for November’s Test window, were withdrawn as precautions.
The captaincy went to Josh van der Flier for the second time, having led Leinster to a 31-5 win over the Sharks last week.
Jordan Larmour replaced O’Brien in the number 14 jersey while Max Deegan was promoted from the bench at No.8, Cullen handing back-three player Jimmy O’Brien the No.23 jersey after reverting the replacements to a five-three split between forwards and backs. It proved to be a canny alteration on Leinster’s part given the high rate of attrition in a physical first half in front of 51,859.
Leinster were forced to remove three players, two of them backs, for Head Injury Assessments in the opening 40, with loosehead prop Paddy McCarthy withdrawn on 16 minutes, Larmour forced off six minutes later and fly-half Prendergast departing a minute before half-time, only to return for the start of the second half.
Munster were not without their problems, losing wing Andrew Smith to an apparent hamstring issue after he pulled up chasing a through kick in the ninth minute while try scorer Gleeson was replaced on 28 minutes due to an arm injury.
A strong start from the home side was also a major concern, as Leinster’s forward pack quickly found dominance at scrum-time, winning three penalties, the first two of which gave them the territory from which to score the opening try of the game. It came six minutes in Prendergast kicking successive penalties to give his side a five-metre lineout in the right corner, hooker Kelleher finishing off a driving maul from short range, with the fly-half adding the conversion.
Given Leinster’s early dominance of last year’s corresponding fixture at Croke Park, when they jumped out into a 21-0, it was an ominous opening for the visitors but this was a different Munster outfit that immediately found a response through some sparkling rugby.
Crowley was at the heart of everything good as Munster produced some flowing rugby to eke a penalty five metres out. McMillan’s side turned to their pack to finish the move, the tap penalty leading to a try for No.8 Gleeson on 17 minutes, converted by Crowley.
The fly-half was looking sharp and he sent up a clever chip into space which put his outside centre Tom Farrell into an aerial duel with the newly-arrived replacement Jimmy O’Brien. Farrell won, keeping the ball alive with one hand then gathering with both to run under the posts from 15 metres out. Crowley converted to put his side 14-7 in front and Munster stretched that lead by another seven points heading to the interval with a breakaway try from scrum-half Coughlan.
Leinster had been guilty of overplaying with one loose pass or offload after another and this time they were caught out, Jamison Gibson-Park’s pass for Snyman expertly picked off by his opposite number close to the Munster 22, the scrum-half racing upfield to score unopposed under the posts. Against Crowley converted and Munster went into the break 2-17 ahead.
Head coach McMillan made two changes at half-time, one forced after hooker Diarmuid Barron had been injured in the last scrum of the first 40, the other by design as Edwin Edogbo completed his first start in 22 months to be replaced by Jean Kleyn.
With six first-half injuries and those further changes it made for a tight third quarter, though Crowley did extend Munster’s lead to 24-7 with a penalty on 48 minutes. Yet it was the visitors’ defensive effort that stood out in this second half as Leinster pushed to get back on terms, and captain Tadhg Beirne the Munster standard-bearer. The British & Irish Lions player of the series against Australia during the summer hit the ground running on his seasonal debut, an absolute menace in disrupting Leinster’s maul and a scourge at the breakdown with three further turnovers, the last of which on fellow tourist Tadgh Furlong was a huge pressure reliever for the away team.
Beirne was removed shortly after for an HIA, forcing a Munster pack reshuffle with tighthead starter John Ryan replacing his skipper at blindside flanker but it looked like Leinster were the team running out of options as the game moved into the final 10 minutes.
Munster’s penalty try came as Farrell dived for the line, a Leinster tackle denying him a second try of the game but deemed as an illegal side entry by the referee. Though the men in red finished a man down after a last-minute yellow card for Gavin Coombes and with Crowley covering at scrum-half ahead of Penny’s consolation converted try, the chilly Dublin night belonged to the southern province.
J Osborne; J Larmour (J O’Brien, 22 - HIA), G Ringrose, R Henshaw (C Frawley, 57), J Lowe; S Prendergast (C Frawley, 39-ht - HIA), J Gibson-Park (F Gunne, 70); P McCarthy (A Porter, 16 - HIA), R Kelleher (D Sheehan, 45), T Furlong (T Clarkson, 62); RG Snyman (B Deeny, 43), James Ryan; A Soroka, J van der Flier – captain, M Deegan (S Penny, 72).
S Daly; A Smith (A Nankivell, 9), T Farrell, D Kelly, T Abrahams; J Crowley, E Coughlan (P Patterson, 56; JJ Hanrahan, 76); M Milne (J Loughman, 53), D Barron (L Barron, h-t), John Ryan (R Foxe, 62); E Edogbo (J Kleyn, h-t), F Wycherley; T Beirne – captain (John Ryan 64 – HIA), J O’Donoghue, B Gleeson (G Coombes, 28).
G Coombes 80 mins
Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy).
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