Hello, and welcome to this evening’s liveblog.

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There have been some late changes to Munster’s team — Conor Murray has failed to come through a fitness test, so Tomás O’Leary starts in his place. BJ Botha is out due to illness and is replaced by John Ryan, while Rory Scannell will now start instead of Denis Hurley, who drops to the bench.

Meanwhile, Mario Sagario and Duncan Williams have both been added to the bench.

Leinster

15. Zane Kirchner
14. Fergus McFadden
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Luke Fitzgerald
11. Isa Nacewa
10. Ian Madigan
9. Eoin Reddan

1. Jack McGrath
2. Sean Cronin
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Devin Toner
5. Tom Denton
6. Dominic Ryan
7. Sean O’Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:

16. James Tracy
17. Cian Healy
18. Marty Moore
19. Ross Molony
20. Josh van der Flier
21. Nick McCarthy
22. Cathal Marsh
23. Dave Kearney

Munster

15. Andrew Conway
14. Keith Earls
13. Francis Saili
12. Rory Scannell
11. Simon Zebo
10. Tyler Bleyendaal
9. Tomás O’Leary

1. James Cronin
2. Mike Sherry
3. John Ryan
4. Dave Foley
5. Donnacha Ryan
6. Robin Copeland
7. Jack O’Donoghue
8. CJ Stander (c)

Replacements:

16. Niall Scannell
17. Dave Kilcoyne
18. Duncan Williams
19. Billy Holland
20. Tommy O’Donnell
21. Mario Sagario
22. Denis Hurley
23. Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino

We’re underway…

Dominic Ryan is currently receiving attention.

It’s been a strong start from Munster.

MUNSTER 0-5 LEINSTER (NACEWA TRY 5)

MUNSTER 0-7 LEINSTER (MADIGAN CONVERSION)

Great pass from Sean O’Brien to Ringrose, who shows his pace to cut through Munster’s defence.

He eventually lays it off to Nacewa, who crosses over to give Leinster the advantage early on.

Madigan makes no mistake with the conversion.

Disappointing for Rory Scannell — a relatively straightforward penalty drifts wide to add to Munster’s early woe.

Scannell has a good record from the boot at underage level, but perhaps showed some early nerves there.

Ringrose has impressed early on — he produced another nice offload there.

The Ireland U20 international and former Blackrock College schoolboy certainly looks a top prospect on the evidence of the game so far.

MUNSTER 0-10 LEINSTER (MADIGAN PENALTY 16)

Leinster’s early dominance continues, as Madigan retains his 100% record from the boot.

There was good work from the returning Sean O’Brien, who signed a new three-year contract with the province during the week, to win the penalty in the first place.

Brian O’Driscoll is clearly impressed by Ringrose.

Blow for Munster early on as James Cronin has to go off injured.

Dave Kilcoyne comes on in his colleague’s place.

Mick O’Driscoll tells Sky that Munster haven’t been playing the game in the right areas so far.

He is optimistic they are starting to “come good,” however.

Pressure from Munster, as Dave Kilcoyne threatens to burst through the Leinster defence single-handedly. The substitute has been impressive since coming on.

Leinster are hanging on a bit here.

Dave Foley is correctly penalised for coming in from the side, as Munster’s attacking momentum comes to a halt.

It’s been a frustrating start for Anthony Foley’s men.

Munster are penalised for standing in the scrum, as Madigan kicks deep into Munster territory.

It’s been a very scrappy opening half an hour.

Leinster's Garry Ringrose chased by Munster's Jack O'Donoghue. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

Munster appear to have numbers out wide, but Scannell goes himself and gets well tackled.

Meanwhile, as I type, Earls has gone down with what looks like a bad injury.

The referee goes to the TMO, as Sherry dives towards the line.

After consultation, they decide it was held up, so no try is given.

Keith Earls is going off with what looks a serious injury. He puts the hand up to acknowledge the crowd as he’s stretchered off.

It seemed an innocuous tackle by Luke Fitzgerald, so it’s unclear from replays how the injury occurred.

Amorosino comes on in Earls’ place.

More pressure from Munster, as Saili tries to power over the line.

Good defence from Leinster again, however, as the Munster centre is held up.

MUNSTER 5-10 LEINSTER (COPELAND 38)

MUNSTER 7-10 LEINSTER (SCANNELL CONVESRION 38)

Copeland escapes Leinster’s defence’s attention briefly and capitalises to burst over the line.

After checking with the TMO, the referee awards the try.

Scannell then succeeds with a simple conversion in front of the posts.

HALF-TIME: MUNSTER 7-10 LEINSTER

So half-time, and Leinster hold a narrow lead.

Leo Cullen’s side will be disappointed that, having defended well for long periods, they eventually conceded a try just before the break.

Munster have had the superior possession and territory, but have failed to make the most of their opportunities in good areas.

Leinster have been clinical when given opportunities, with Sean O’Brien and Garry Ringrose looking particularly impressive in that first half.

Given the frustrating, error-ridden nature of much of that first half, Anthony Foley will probably ultimately be satisfied that his team are just three points behind at the break and still have a chance to rectify their problems after the break.

Some stats via Sky Sports, who also report that Keith Earls is on his way to hospital but “in good spirits”.

The second half is underway…

It’ll be interesting to see how Leinster respond to that setback just before half-time.

They’re playing against the wind in the second half, though Sky report that the wind has dropped slightly since the first period.

Leinster are penalised for not moving away, with Munster winning a penalty as a result.

Somewhat surprisingly, they decide not to kick at goal, going for the corner instead.

More frustration for Munster as they concede a penalty at the breakdown for not releasing.

The hosts looked set to score a try there, as they were just a couple of metres away from the line following a sustained period of pressure.

Superb kick from Rory Scannell, who has grown into this game after that bad penalty miss early on. He finds touch after picking out a narrow gap between two Leinster backs.

This will give Munster another big chance to put pressure on.

Another exciting passage of play, before not for the first time in this game, Sean O’Brien wins Leinster a penalty at the breakdown.

Previously, Munster threatened to tear the Leinster defence apart, with both Zebo and Conway making good breaks, before an ill-advised cross-field kick from Tyler Bleyendaal kills the momentum of the attack.

Munster's Keith Earls goes off injured. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

MUNSTER 7-15 LEINSTER (MCGRATH TRY 54)

MUNSTER 7-17 LEINSTER (MADIGAN CONVERSION)

A clever cross-field kick leads to Nacewa being held up just before the line, but the ball is recycled and Jack McGrath eventually powers over.

Madigan converts, and it’s McGrath’s last action of the match, as he’s replaced by Cian Healy.

Tommy O’Donnell has come on for Munster in place of Jack O’Donoghue.

Bleyendaal and O’Leary have also been replaced by Hurley and Williams.

The referee has warned Isa Nacewa about Leinster players’ dangerous tackling.

Munster continue to put the pressure on, but eventually, Leinster win a strum after getting a turnover, as Heaslip wraps himself around Saili.

Niall Scannell is on in place of Mike Sherry

15 minutes remain…

Leinster's Eoin Reddan and Munster's Andrew Conway upended. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

That sums up what has been a very frustrating evening for Munster.

Following patient attacking build-up play, Denis Hurley fumbles the ball and is subsequently penalised for a knock-on.

Mario Sagario is on for John Ryan for Munster.

Meanwhile, for Leinster, Josh van der Flier replaces Sean O’Brien, who has arguably been the game’s standout player tonight.

Another bad sign for Irish rugby as Cian Healy hobbles off with an injury.

Jack McGrath is back on in his place.

Leinster clear their lines following more Munster pressure — it looks like the visitors are going to hold on.

The hugely impressive Sean O’Brien, just back from injury, has been deservedly named man-of-the-match. According to Sky, he made 17 tackles this evening.

MUNSTER 7-22 LEINSTER (KIRCHNER 80)

FULL-TIME: MUNSTER 7-24 LEINSTER

A painful end to this game for Munster, as Saili’s pass is intercepted by Kirchner, who sprints through unchallenged over the try line.

Madigan puts the icing on the cake with the conversion, and that’s that!

So another disappointing loss for Munster, as they suffer their fifth defeat on the bounce.

The hosts dominated territory for long periods and enjoyed 60% possession, but ultimately, they struggled to unlock a well-organised Leinster defence.

Leinster, by contrast, were ruthless when presented with opportunities, with Munster’s individual errors continually capitalised on by Leo Cullen’s side.

Much work to do for Anthony Foley and co so, while Leinster can be satisfied with their performance — Ringrose, O’Brien and Madigan were all particularly impressive at times.

Right, that’s all from me for now, but we’ll have further reaction to follow.

Thanks for reading and commenting, and enjoy the rest of your Christmas holidays.