IT’S HARD TO remember such an uncharacteristically ill-disciplined Leinster performance than what they produced in the first half on Saturday evening, as Leo Cullen’s side lost their cool and it ultimately proved to be their undoing in a 26-17 defeat.
Having received just one yellow card in the Pro14 season prior to this game, Leinster had both of their international props — Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong — sent to the sin-bin inside the opening half an hour against Munster, before James Lowe saw red for taking Andrew Conway out in the air.
Sexton with referee Frank Murphy. Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
The first period, in particular, was fractured by a series of video referrals to the Television Match Official, as referee Frank Murphy — the former Munster scrum-half taking charge of just his 20th Pro14 game — struggled to keep a lid on proceedings.
Leinster’s aggression spilt over as their lack of discipline and composure resulted in a number of flash points during a full-blooded inter-pro derby, but neither Cullen or Johnny Sexton had any complaints about the big decisions.
Firstly, Healy — on the occasion of his 200th appearance for the province — caught Conor Murray high after Munster had drawn first blood on the scoreboard through Chris Cloete, earning the Ireland international 10 minutes in the bin.
No sooner had Healy returned to the frontline, Furlong was trudging off after Murphy brandished another yellow for his clear-out of Cloete, who was stretchered down the tunnel with a neck injury.
Lowe’s reckless challenge on an airborne Conway may not have been made with intent, but after tracking a Luke McGrath box-kick, the Kiwi — with eyes on the ball — clattered into the Munster winger and with duty of care to the player, Murphy had no choice but to end Lowe’s involvement at that juncture.
It was a shame for the contest, but Conway landing dangerously on his head and neck made the red card inevitable. Cullen’s side played with 13 men for seven first-half minutes, and 14 men for more than 50 minutes. There was no coming back from that, try as they might.
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“It’s very difficult to win rugby matches when you concede a red card and two yellows inside the first 32 minutes,” Cullen said afterwards.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, it’s about what the referee thinks as he makes the decision on the field. We just have to go what the referee says, whether he’s right or wrong, it doesn’t really matter. He’s the one who has the cards in the pocket, not me.”
Sexton, the Leinster captain, had no issues with Murphy’s decisions to sin-bin Healy and Furlong and send Lowe off.
“The decisions with the yellow cards, I didn’t say anything to the ref about those decisions,” he explained. “James was obviously accidentally but by the letter of the law it’s red and the other two guys, they were yellow cards.”
Sexton did, in the moment, take exception to Fineen Wycherley’s hit inside the opening exchanges of the contest, as he grabbed the Munster flanker’s scrum cap in retaliation and threw it at him, before Jack Conan intervened. It set the tone for what was to come.
Sexton clashed with Wycherley early in the game. Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
Murphy, with the help of his TMO, reversed the penalty and Munster had the chance to clear their lines after Leinster had started on the front foot with Lowe and Garry Ringrose probing.
“The one decision I sort of argued with, I got a penalty against me for retaliation and then 10 minutes later, they retaliated and there was no reversal,” Sexton continued.
“That was the only decision I really had a problem with, or maybe James Ryan’s one late in the first half where the ball squirts out and we got penalised for that. Other than that, I thought the decisions were correct.”
Either way, Sexton knows what cost Leinster as they slipped to a first defeat to their southern rivals in two years and just their third of the season.
Ahead of next week’s visit of Ulster to the RDS, and then the crunch Heineken Champions Cup clash against Toulouse a week later, the Ireland out-half says Leinster will learn from their mistakes.
“It was obviously accidental, Tadhg and James,” he added. “They’re three decisions and there are other penalties we shouldn’t have given away and we’re going to have to look at.
It cost us dearly today, but it’s a good learning for us as if that happens against Toulouse, we lose and could be out of Europe.
Cullen was asked if coaches will stop encouraging players to compete in the air after the Lowe dismissal.
“It’s a really difficult area, and difficult for the referees to referee it as well,” the Leinster head coach said.
“The crowd are almost getting into it as well and almost encouraging officials to card guys and then players, how do they behave etc. It’s definitely a consideration for us but we have to be more aware of our surroundings. Today, we probably lost our head in the first 35 minutes of the game. It’s the atmosphere, it’s fiery and Munster are a very passionate team when they’re playing here at home.
“From our point of view, we just have to get better at dealing with it. It [the result] doesn’t really affect us in the Conference standings, but for us, we need to figure out when we’re in this type of cauldron atmosphere how we can manage the game better.”
Cullen confirmed that Sexton — who was later seen icing his lower leg on the bench — was replaced after 60 minutes as part of a preordained move to get Ciaran Frawley more big game exposure.
“We wanted to get Ciaran the exposure to that game so that’s why we made that change at 60 minutes,” he clarified, while also revealing Dave Kearney pulled up in the warm-up with a tight abductor muscle.
Murray Kinsella, Gavan Casey and Andy Dunne look back on a memorable year for Irish rugby.
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Sexton: Leinster must learn from poor discipline for Toulouse showdown
Ryan Bailey reports from Thomond Park
IT’S HARD TO remember such an uncharacteristically ill-disciplined Leinster performance than what they produced in the first half on Saturday evening, as Leo Cullen’s side lost their cool and it ultimately proved to be their undoing in a 26-17 defeat.
Having received just one yellow card in the Pro14 season prior to this game, Leinster had both of their international props — Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong — sent to the sin-bin inside the opening half an hour against Munster, before James Lowe saw red for taking Andrew Conway out in the air.
The first period, in particular, was fractured by a series of video referrals to the Television Match Official, as referee Frank Murphy — the former Munster scrum-half taking charge of just his 20th Pro14 game — struggled to keep a lid on proceedings.
Leinster’s aggression spilt over as their lack of discipline and composure resulted in a number of flash points during a full-blooded inter-pro derby, but neither Cullen or Johnny Sexton had any complaints about the big decisions.
Firstly, Healy — on the occasion of his 200th appearance for the province — caught Conor Murray high after Munster had drawn first blood on the scoreboard through Chris Cloete, earning the Ireland international 10 minutes in the bin.
No sooner had Healy returned to the frontline, Furlong was trudging off after Murphy brandished another yellow for his clear-out of Cloete, who was stretchered down the tunnel with a neck injury.
Lowe’s reckless challenge on an airborne Conway may not have been made with intent, but after tracking a Luke McGrath box-kick, the Kiwi — with eyes on the ball — clattered into the Munster winger and with duty of care to the player, Murphy had no choice but to end Lowe’s involvement at that juncture.
It was a shame for the contest, but Conway landing dangerously on his head and neck made the red card inevitable. Cullen’s side played with 13 men for seven first-half minutes, and 14 men for more than 50 minutes. There was no coming back from that, try as they might.
“It’s very difficult to win rugby matches when you concede a red card and two yellows inside the first 32 minutes,” Cullen said afterwards.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, it’s about what the referee thinks as he makes the decision on the field. We just have to go what the referee says, whether he’s right or wrong, it doesn’t really matter. He’s the one who has the cards in the pocket, not me.”
Sexton, the Leinster captain, had no issues with Murphy’s decisions to sin-bin Healy and Furlong and send Lowe off.
“The decisions with the yellow cards, I didn’t say anything to the ref about those decisions,” he explained. “James was obviously accidentally but by the letter of the law it’s red and the other two guys, they were yellow cards.”
Sexton did, in the moment, take exception to Fineen Wycherley’s hit inside the opening exchanges of the contest, as he grabbed the Munster flanker’s scrum cap in retaliation and threw it at him, before Jack Conan intervened. It set the tone for what was to come.
Murphy, with the help of his TMO, reversed the penalty and Munster had the chance to clear their lines after Leinster had started on the front foot with Lowe and Garry Ringrose probing.
“The one decision I sort of argued with, I got a penalty against me for retaliation and then 10 minutes later, they retaliated and there was no reversal,” Sexton continued.
“That was the only decision I really had a problem with, or maybe James Ryan’s one late in the first half where the ball squirts out and we got penalised for that. Other than that, I thought the decisions were correct.”
Either way, Sexton knows what cost Leinster as they slipped to a first defeat to their southern rivals in two years and just their third of the season.
Ahead of next week’s visit of Ulster to the RDS, and then the crunch Heineken Champions Cup clash against Toulouse a week later, the Ireland out-half says Leinster will learn from their mistakes.
“It was obviously accidental, Tadhg and James,” he added. “They’re three decisions and there are other penalties we shouldn’t have given away and we’re going to have to look at.
Cullen was asked if coaches will stop encouraging players to compete in the air after the Lowe dismissal.
“It’s a really difficult area, and difficult for the referees to referee it as well,” the Leinster head coach said.
“The crowd are almost getting into it as well and almost encouraging officials to card guys and then players, how do they behave etc. It’s definitely a consideration for us but we have to be more aware of our surroundings. Today, we probably lost our head in the first 35 minutes of the game. It’s the atmosphere, it’s fiery and Munster are a very passionate team when they’re playing here at home.
“From our point of view, we just have to get better at dealing with it. It [the result] doesn’t really affect us in the Conference standings, but for us, we need to figure out when we’re in this type of cauldron atmosphere how we can manage the game better.”
Cullen confirmed that Sexton — who was later seen icing his lower leg on the bench — was replaced after 60 minutes as part of a preordained move to get Ciaran Frawley more big game exposure.
“We wanted to get Ciaran the exposure to that game so that’s why we made that change at 60 minutes,” he clarified, while also revealing Dave Kearney pulled up in the warm-up with a tight abductor muscle.
Murray Kinsella, Gavan Casey and Andy Dunne look back on a memorable year for Irish rugby.
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