MUNSTER 19 LEINSTER 15: It sounds a little trite but as is so often the case, the team that wanted it more won. Not un-coincidentally, Munster probably needed it more, what with four defeats in a row to their rivals including two at their citadel, and this win should do them a power of good.
It's not that Leinster didn't want to win as well, of course they did, just that with a whiff of vengeance in the air Munster's pride dictated they could not afford to suffer the indignity of a third successive defeat to Leinster in their Thomond Park fortress for the first time since 1971.
There was a compelling ebb to the game from the off, though for much of the first quarter or so, Leinster looked the likelier to continue their domestic supremacy. They were less manic and less error prone on the ball, although more error prone in defence.
There was also more tempo, width and ambition to Munster's recycling and passing, along with a mix of pragmatism, and three minutes in there was also a signal of Munster's intent. Braveness personified, Rob Kearney rose to gather Ian Keatley's pinpoint up-and-under despite having already landed painfully from a Duncan Williams' box kick under pressure from Simon Zebo.
This time Kearney landed to a thumping tackle from Keith Earls and though Leinster sought to regroup around Kearney, the Munster dogs of war were quicker there and hit harder. Paul O'Connell, Peter O'Mahony, Mike Sherry and David Kilcoyne in turn drove over the ball while, for the most part, staying on their feet to present Williams with turnover ball.
Cauldron of yore
Welcome to Thomond, albeit on something resembling a summer's evening, this was some way short of the official 20,000-plus "attendance" and not the cauldron of yore. The Moyross end wasn't even half-full, and most of those wore blue.
Munster would go on to derive a huge yield from their furious kick-chase game but most of all won it at the breakdown. Using their bodies almost like human missiles when their wingers chased down up-and-unders by Keatley and Williams, thereafter they continually hit harder and in more numbers, while also enjoying huge success from holding Leinster players up in the tackle.
Indeed, their work-rate and physicality in defence was unremitting, and ultimately so ensnared had Leinster’s attacking become and so far out were they being forced to chase the game into the slight wind, that in truth the outcome never looked in real doubt save for a few isolated moments of menace from Lote Tuqiri and Rob Kearney from the moment Keatley extended the home side’s lead to four points not long past the hour mark.
That Leinster finished tryless is not unusual, for they scored only one try here on their last two winning visits, yet the lack of an X-factor in the absence of Brian O’Driscoll was a little alarming. Pressed into service as an emergency outside centre, Lote Tuqiri presumably ran there since Tuesday but, scarcely used and with Gordon D’Arcy having an unusually inaccurate outing, the former Wallaby made negligible impact until a searing late break.
Uneasy ride
He then scampered up the touchline from a turnover deep in Leinster territory, with daylight ahead of him, but seeing that Casey Laulala and co were hunting him down by half-way, checked to make an offload and as with his debut in Glasgow, twanged his hamstring.
Working off slower ball, Eoin Reddan had an uneasy ride, with Niall Ronan, one of four Leinster men in Munster's ranks, destroyer in chief. He is assuredly one of the few people around who wouldn't mind having Romain Poite refereeing every game. What more to say about monsieur Poite? As is usual under his whacky watch, the scrums and breakdown were a wildly inconsistent lottery cum brawl.
As is usual, he allowed too many hands in rucks, inconsistently adjudicated on whether the tackler released, allowed too much offside around the fringes, misjudged a few aerial knock-ons and, amid a raft of questionable penalties, was too quick to penalise at scrum time. When Stephen Archer and co were clearly first to hit the deck and flat to the ground as Leinster sought to keep the scrum up in the 29th minute, his decision to penalise Munster defied belief.
Arguably, Munster were for once the beneficiaries of his unpredictable presence as their greater familiarity with his quirky and pedantic style enabled them to play him better, not least when O'Connell took over from Peter O'Mahony as captain and tugged the forelock. Conor Murray provided real impact too and as the usual raft of frontrow changes were made, it has to be said Munster's scrum turned the screw. In the midst of this Mike Ross and co suffered the indignity of being walked backwards by the fast emerging James Cronin and co. Following on from an O'Connell lineout steal, it enabled Keatley to make it a four-point game.
Outhalf showdown
At face value, the game could be interpreted as hinging upon the outhalf showdown in this post-O'Gara/Sexton era. Ian Madigan having kicked Leinster into a 6-0 lead, Keatley responded by atoning for an earlier miss to open his account and then sumptuously dummied inside Jamie Heaslip to kick ahead for Keith Earls to chase.
Dave Kearney having bravely saved the danger, Keatley reclaimed the ball, whereupon Madigan appeared to come in from the side and was binned for ten minutes. From the ensuing lineout, Keatley crosskicked expertly for Earls, looking stronger physically and mentally, to gather and step Rob Kearney for the score.
Keatley also converted, and though Madigan would regain the lead in the second-half, two more penalties by Keatley steered Munster home to seal a fine all-round performance.
Yet it is too easy to portray Madigan as Leinster’s villain. For starters, after Keatley’s opening penalty, Tuqiri completely missed a well-placed restart which Isa Nacewa would have gobbled up. As for his yellow card, Madigan initially moved forward because James Coughlan clearly attempted to pick up and rumble from the base, only to leave the ball behind him on the deck.
Poite was looking away at the key moment yet was as quick as ever to brandish the yellow card.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 3 mins: Madigan pen 0-3; 23 mins: Madigan pen 0-6; 30 mins: Keatley pen 3-6; 33 mins: Earls try, Keatley con 10-6; 40 mins: McFadden pen 10-9; (half-time 10-9); 43 mins: Keatley pen 13-9; 53 mins: Madigan pen 13-12; 55 mins: Madigan pen 13-15; 57 mins: Keatley pen 16-15; 63 mins: Keatley pen 19-15.
MUNSTER: F Jones; K Earls, C Laulala, J Downey, S Zebo; I Keatley, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, M Sherry, S Archer; D Ryan, P O'Connell; P O'Mahony (capt), N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: CJ Stander for O'Mahony (half-time), C Murray for Williams (53 mins), D Varley for Sherry, J Cronin for Kilcoyne (both 55 mins), BJ Botha for Archer, Donncha O'Callaghan for Ronan, D Hurley for Jones (all 68 mins).
LEINSTER: R Kearney; F McFadden, L Tuqiri, G D'Arcy, D Kearney; I Madigan, E Reddan; C Healy, S Cronin, M Ross, M McCarthy, D Toner, K McLaughlin, S O'Brien, J Heaslip (capt). Replacements: I Boss for Reddan, L Fitzgerald for McFadden (both 55 mins), J McGrath for Healy, D Ryan for O'Brien (both 64 mins), A Dundon for Cronin, M Moore for Ross (both 68 mins), J Gopperth for Tuqiri (74 mins). Sinbinned: Madigan (32-42 mins).
Referee: Romain Poite (FFR).
