SATURDAY’S CROKE PARK showdown between Leinster and Munster was previewed by The 42’s Murray Kinsella on Wednesday’s episode of Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
“It’s far from ideal for Munster to have such a hefty injury list at this stage of the season but if you look back to this game last November, it will be a very similar Munster team. O’Mahony didn’t play that day, and they obviously didn’t have Oli Jager at that stage either,” Kinsella said.
“So, they’ll have a similar team to that day and that was an unbelievable game. Leinster had their strongest team; they were at full tilt and they won 21-16.
“Munster made a brilliant start with Simon Zebo breaking through and Garry Ringrose just couldn’t catch him as he rushed for that Craig Casey try. Then if you think about the end of that game, when Conor Murray breaks down that left-hand touchline and Munster are in the 22 pushing for a winning converted try. It shows what Munster can do. They have a blueprint there to test Leinster.”
Kinsella added: “I’m sure Leinster have utter motivation to show that they’re still kings and that there’s a gap between the sides. On the big occasion in Croke Park with a big crowd, they are going to want to deliver something really spectacular.”
“But I don’t think Munster will be heading to Dublin despondent. They’ll go with a fair belief that they can test Leinster the way that they did a year ago.
“I probably have Leinster by a six-point margin based on some of the good things I saw in their performance last weekend, some of it was really slick. I thought they were really aligned in what they wanted to do.
“Munster’s last performance was encouraging but they were coming from a really bad game against Zebre. I think the occasion will bring out much better from them which is why I don’t think Leinster will blow them away. But I find it hard to bet against a Leinster team with so much sheer quality in their 23.
“What an unbelievable occasion this will be for Irish rugby. It’s phenomenal to sell that many tickets for a URC Round 4 clash. It’s just brilliant and it’s so encouraging for the sport. Hopefully we get the contest that matches the massive achievement of selling so many tickets,” Kinsella said.
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