Munster 29
Leinster 17
Murray Kinsella reports from Thomond Park
MUNSTER MOVED FIVE points clear of Leinster at the top of the Guinness Pro12 with a comprehensive 29-17 win over their inter-provincial rivals, racking up four tries for a bonus-point victory.
Simon Zebo, Ronan O’Mahony, Tommy O’Donnell and man of the match CJ Stander all crossed for five pointers as Rassie Erasmus’ men clinically put away a weakened Leinster team in front of a boisterous crowd of 26,200.
With Leo Cullen leaving the likes of Jack McGrath, Jamie Heaslip, Devin Toner and Luke McGrath out of his side and Munster going with their strongest available XV, the home province were better in virtually all aspects.
They kicked well to compete – whereas Leinster were poor in this area – their maul and lineout were largely dominant, and their work rate in attack was once again exemplary.
Leinster are likely to have several of their missing frontliners back in situ for the New Year’s Eve clash with Ulster at the RDS, whereas the likes of Conor Murray and CJ Stander may be due a rest for Munster’s meeting with Connacht in Galway.
The Christmas cobwebs were blown off in a poor opening 15 minutes at Thomond, before Leinster struck superbly for the first score.
Jamison Gibson-Park hit out-half Ross Byrne drifting right on a diagonal line, with Byrne drawing Jaco Taute up out of the Munster defence searching for the big hit. Byrne deftly released to Kirchner as the fullback straightened inside Ronan O’Mahony, beating the covering defenders to the right of the posts.
Nacewa’s conversion made it 7-0 in Leinster’s favour, but Munster responded within four minutes as they battered the visitors’ tryline before Murray skipped to Zebo on the right touchline.
The Ireland international somehow kept his feet in play, spinning through the tackles of Gibson-Park and Barry Daly to stretch out his right hand and dot down, the TMO confirming his try. Bleyendaal’s brilliant conversion from out wide levelled proceedings.
A neck roll penalty against the otherwise excellent Jean Kleyn allowed Leinster to push back in front on the 27-minute mark through a Nacewa penalty, but Munster finished the half on top.
Leinster’s defence was superb for extended periods, particularly with Munster in their 22, but Erasmus’ men are a determined bunch. Having been spurned with their previous visit into Leinster territory, Munster would not relent with the half ticking to a close.
They smashed into the Leinster tackles repeatedly after a Cian Healy penalty concession gave them access, before finally shifting the ball to Bleyendaal.
Left win O’Mahony had looped all the way around to the right touchline, with Bleyendaal then skipping Darren Sweetnam to free O’Mahony to dive over in the right corner.
There was another TMO interaction as Nigel Owens reviewed Kirchner’s off-the-ball hit on Sweetnam – forced off injured as a result – but no sanction followed.
Instead, Bleyendaal again slotted the touchline conversion for a 14-10 lead to Munster at the break.
The early stages of the second half featured plenty of poorly-chased kicking from both teams, but Munster had been buoyed by that O’Mahony try.
The southern province ended one spell of kick tennis with a counter attack launched by the excellent Conor Murray that saw O’Donnell make a powerful surge down the left touchline.
Again, the forwards took over inside the 22 and pummelled their way to within metres, before a classy contribution from a back helped Munster to make up the final inches. It was Murray this time, as he scooped the ball from a ruck under the posts and fired a gorgeous cross-field kick towards the right corner flag.
O’Donnell had Daly in competition with him, but reached higher to gather the ball and muscle over for Munster’s third, once again converted brilliantly by Bleyendaal from the right touchline.
The bonus point was sealed in the 58th minute as Munster’s maul fired up once again, continuing their dominance of this area, and number eight Stander was the beneficiary this time.
Bleyendaal missed his easiest conversion attempt, relatively speaking, but did slot three points with a penalty inside the final quarter.
With both sides emptying their benches, there was a first appearance of the season for All Blacks-capped centre Francis Saili, who replaced new Munster cult hero Taute and understandably looked very hungry.
Leinster did muster a consolation score in the 78th minute, with replacement hooker Richardt Strauss bursting over from a maul, allowing Nacewa to convert, but Munster fans left Thomond Park with a festive skip in their step after another heartening home win.
Munster scorers:
Tries: Simon Zebo, Ronan O’Mahony, Tommy O’Donnell, CJ Stander
Conversions: Tyler Bleyendaal [3 from 4]
Penalties: Tyler Bleyendaal [1 from 1]
Leinster scorers:
Tries: Zane Kirchner, Richardt Strauss
Conversions: Isa Nacewa [2 from 2]
Penalties: Isa Nacewa [1 from 1]
MUNSTER: Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam (Andrew Conway ’40), Jaco Taute (Francis Saili ’63), Rory Scannell, Ronan O’Mahony; Tyler Bleyendaal, Conor Murray (Duncan Williams ’70 (blood sub – Murray ’76 to ’78)); James Cronin (HIA Dave Kilcoyne ’15 to ’19, permanent ’62), Niall Scannell (Rhys Marshall ’62), John Ryan (Stephen Archer ’62); Jean Kleyn (Billy Holland ’70), Donnacha Ryan; Peter O’Mahony (captain) (Jack O’Donoghue ’66), Tommy O’Donnell, CJ Stander.
LEINSTER: Zane Kirchner; Isa Nacewa (captain), Rory O’Loughlin, Robbie Henshaw, Barry Daly (Noel Reid ’55); Ross Byrne (Tom Daly ’70), Jamison Gibson-Park; Cian Healy (Peter Dooley ’63), James Tracy (Richardt Strauss ’63), Tadhg Furlong (Michael Bent ’63); Ross Molony, Mike McCarthy (Ian Nagle ’52 (HIA Rhys Ruddock ’70)); Rhys Ruddock (Dominic Ryan ’66), Dan Leavy, Jack Conan.
Replacements not used: Charlie Rock.
Referee: Nigel Owens [WRU].
The best team won. No excuses. Leinster got this wrong, kicking time and time again to a Munster back 3 is not very clever.
Started the game by passing the ball and scoring a try from there on in we kicked everything.
Hopefully we can play better v Ulster.
Munster were really really good.
As much as this hurts it’s good to see them back playing so well.
I’m hoping for a European semi final.
@Chris Mcdonnell: Revenge time for 2009, I might add, Christy.
Unlikely Conor. Winning a mid season inter-pro against a 3rd string Leinster side somehow compensates for a spanking in a European semi final 7 years ago? If that’s revenge, you’re welcome to it. I know which game I’d rather have won.
3rd string?! Come off it. Granted it would probably be considered 2nd string with a handful of 1st team players, but 3rd string, don’t think so.
Very few of the players were around in 2009 so I’d say they’d want to win for themselves.
While the entire team wasn’t made up of 3rd choice players, there was a fair whack of them on show tonight. A 2nd string might be a fairer observation on reflection. However, if you’re trying to convince me that Munster fans would see last night as apt revenge for the walloping in 2009, pull the other one!
2009 has been erased from my memory! No idea what you’re talking about! :-)
The pints in Jerry Flannery’s must have been flowing!
Man of the match should just be called the CJ Stander award. Apparently he is has to build an extension for all of them.
@Paul O Mahony: Not taking anything away from Stander, but to be fair i thought Murray should have gotten it.
Haha why should the man of the match be called the check stander award?
Thought Klynn was more deserving of the MOTM award.
I would have gone with Murray or Kleyn myself.
Stander can actually be quite predictable & Leinster kept him very quiet I thought. Didn’t deserve the MOTM award imo.
He’s still a savage player
Oh yeah, of course. No doubt.
@Johnny. I never said he deserved it. Im just amazed at the amount of motm’s he has.
@Paul O Mahony: Fair enough and i have agree with you.
Martin, the young fella tied to take the head of his opposite number in the tackle. Cj just being a good teammate and letting him know he saw it and don’t try it again..
And you’re supposedly a former front row;)
Martin, the high tackle from daly on sweetnam sets up the ruck that cj got penalised for rubbing his forearm in dalys face.. It was a high dangerous tackle let go by Nigel. Cj taking a little bit of the law into his own hands. Didn’t think there was a while lot in it. That’s The kind of mentality you want on your team. To be honest i didn’t see the Kirchner one
Got everything we needed. Kleyn is an absolute beast. Not quite perfect, but when we really got going we were sublime. Leinster gave it a credible go, but weren’t quite there today. Onwards and upwards.
Scannell definitely underlined how he’s ready for the international scene too.
I didn’t think Sean had a great game if that’s the scannell you are referring to
Rory Scannell. Niall Scannell was a bit too inconsistent with his darts for my liking tonight.
Henshaw was kept very quiet.
No losses at home in 2016. At least the year was good for one f****** thing.
Disagree. There are more talented centres, such as Olding, McCloskey and Marshall, who are well ahead of him..
Lol.. niall sorry. Sean was a half decent soccer player for palace once upon a time
Can’t agree Ronan. Scannell is a superstar in the making. All 3 you have mentioned have hit their peak. Scannell is only getting better and better.
Roman, Scannell has consistently been excelling in the Pro 12 and Champions Cup for quite some time. This form includes, but is certainly not limited to, outdoing Marshall in Ravenhill fairly recently. He’s a very different sort of player to the ones who’ve featured so far and would, if given a chance, make positive changes to how we play imo. I’m not calling for him to be a regular starter, but he’s certainly earned a few caps.
Serves us right for fielding our seconds team, fair play to Munster, dominated the second half!
Great win but fair play to Leinster for keeping the fight up and not sitting back. Really put it to munster especially in the first half.
Excellent win for Munster founded on physicality and pressure rugby. Leinster couldn’t live with them. Murray dominated his opposite number and the game.
I’m not making excuses but let’s see the end result when Leinster are playing most of their first teamers. Like I said, fair play Munster, got the job done.
@4OYards: Sounds exactly like making excuses. Leinster had 11 internationals tonight. Suck it up.
I enjoyed that win and fair play to a weakened Leinster team. I don’t know about anyone else but I found myself wincing if any player went down with the Six Nations looming. Coybig.
Well done Munster.. well played Leinster but Owens was poor .. leinster got away with some cynical stuff .
Even when you win you blame the ref?
No excuses best team won. However Ian Nagle was lucky Nigel didn’t see his arm around JODs neck in a maul near the end. It was a certain yellow.
Thought they were especially cynical getting an arm under the ball for Tommy’s try, ref completely missed that one
We won….game over….give it a rest.
Get back under your bridge troll
Trolls normally post using a pseudonym Lenny Leonard
There was at least 2 yellow cards .. thats truth . Emotion should not hide the fact
Richard Strauss should have been black carded for obstruction for the last try
Would have a harsh call Lenny.. Kilcoyne joined the maul and left the space behind him.. Leinster player was within his rights to remove him
@Ewan, think Ian will be more worried about a citing for hands in the eye area. Doesn’t look good.
The gulf between both scrum half was shocking
Who was playing scrumhalf on either team?
I’m not sure Lenny. Was it your ma by any chance?
As would be expected , at this stage of their careers …Murray is a machine at scrum half , Gibson Park is still a novice
Jack conan is some player.
Outplayed by the whole Munster back row and a Munster lock. Not all about a bit of ball carrying goys.
He’s some operator.
Conan was Leinster’s best player yesterday. Never stopped against a serious backrow
Far from a perfect performance but some really excellent finishing and a bonus point, second half highlighted the gulf between the teams. Glad to see Saili back and getting involved!
Since Pro era, Munster have played Leinster 44 times, 21 wins apiece & 2 draws. Mun 70 Tries & 5 BP wins Len 61 Ties & 2BP wins #SUAF
If you think Leinster fielded a weaker team, think about why they would do that. They could only play the internationals for 1 game so clearly they judged Munster would probably win no matter what. If they thought they could beat Munster in Thomond they would never pass that chance up. They chose not to even try.
In any case, Leinster supposedly have the most depth by far and they actually had 11 internationals out. So, it was hardly a ‘weak’ team. Their front row had Healy and Furlong playing and Munster easily handled them.
No trophies give in out in December let’s move on Connacht away on 31/12/2016 will be tough game
Should Kirchener have been binned for his late tackle on Sweetnam?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Nah. He was committed. Nothing wrong with it.
Yes.
If you watch it back Kirchner had his eyes on sweetnam the entire time he didn’t have a clue where the ball was he just took out sweetnam
Nigel wanted to bin him but TMO saved him. Think it was a card.
The St.Stephens day massacre! Furlong got wiped all day and after the blue scrum crumpled like a fiat into a artic he was called home! Time for smith to look at the Munster boys a bit more!
Munster won fair and square but no trophies given out in December and the BS about Schmidt looking much more at Munster players is growing tiresome. Their best players are in the squad and Rory Scannell and Sweetman, whilst good, have a bit to go yet!!!
Henshaw kept quiet by scannell who could do with more time in Carton house. So could Ryan and Cronin/Killer. Healy shown up today.
I’d expect Scannell, Rhino and Sweets to spend a lot more time in Ireland camp and Zebo surely is our first choice FB now?
Who is Rhino?
John Ryan. ‘Rhino’. gettit?
I thought that it might be him. Great to see his development.
In such an important position for Ireland too. I think he’s the biggest example of the single training centre bearing fruit.
Cian I’d say joe will continue close enough with the squad that featured v the NZ and Aus for the six nations. Just purely from a continuity point of view. Munster have a few that will travel on the summer tour no doubt about that but I can’t see joe bringing in 3 or 4 new players for the six nations unless he has too.
Why would leinster play a weakened team against Munster in a top of the the table clash and save main squad for ulster who is playing cap atm
2 big matches in Europe plus majority of those lads played bruising November tests. Makes sense to target the hime game.
Also, a ‘full strength’ team may still have lost and then Leinster would have had to face Ulster with a weakened team. Could result in two losses.
Cian a full strength leinster team is a lot better than Munsters full strength team. And to be fair they way ulster is playing I don’t think leinster has much to worry about. Ulster record at rds don’t make for great reading!!
Thought Duncan Williams was the difference meself…
Some difference from the same game last year on this week.
Wonderful to see Munster gaining in momentum with every game.
Keep her lit boys
Leinster really need to ask themselves why they signed Kirchiner.
Munster 29- LeinsterA big whoop
Munster 29- Séan Byrne’s ego IN TATTERS
Grow a pair
No astericks beside the result.. The drive for 5 is on
Very physical game but Leinster can’t expect to have a few key players carry them ( Isa, Leavy. Conan, Furlong) especially when they lose their set pieces. I thought Munster were vert impressive but if Leinster were winning their own line outs and scrums as we have come to expect and more importantly learn how to deal with a rolling maul then it could have been a different result. Fully agree with the comment about kicking loosely to their back 3 and was shocked how many up and unders our wingers didn’t chase and compete for in the air. Felt both Leinster wingers were poor tonight- Zebo had no business getting in for that try -that said it shows his finishing ability in a tight spot is pure magic. The only aspect that I thought Leinster were excellent at was their defensive line especially in their own 22- Munster had opportunities to capitalise on more tries if it hadn’t been for the dogged defence and big hits- actually thought Conan and Leavy evenly matched TOD and CJ tonight. That said Munster looked comfortable all night and thoroughly deserved win but had Leinster a full side it would have been a better indication of who is the form team in Ireland right now. Great bruising rugby to watch so no complaints here on the result – well played Munster
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Says Paul, who’s 5
Thought the officials had a bad night at the office last night. 2 high tackles by leinster and a tackle on sweetnam and no punishment for either of them. I know we won but I thought we’re supposed to be taking the high tackle seriously now.
In fairness to Nigel he saw both and deemed them to be shoulder high.
Gibson-Park kicks extremely naturally with both feet. Very unusual worldwide as far as I have noticed.
Glen he didn’t kick very well yesterday no matter what foot he used.
Thought the biggest gulf in quality between the two sides was in the second row (and scrum half, though I thought Gibson Park played well, he was up against arguably the world’s best). Kleyn and Ryan gave Munster the front foot, Molony is a good player but is too light against such big men, and McCarthy was outworked. Leinster’s backrow didn’t do much wrong, but as previously mentioned there was too much kicking and not enough carrying, and it allowed Munster to set the tone. Healy should have been absolutely lambasted for the indiscipline, and it certainly wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by Schmidt. Think of the Aviva 5 minutes to go and we’re 2 points up against England, do you want a hot head like that running around when Farrell is kicking their penalties? I get it that he’s trying to push himself back into the equation but really that was so disappointing. Thomond is a genuine fortress again, and the Munster pack and bench are serious. Leinster lack some tough and vocal leaders in the pack when the frontline players are missing.