The United Rugby Championship match held at the historic Croke Park on a brisk autumn evening witnessed traditional rivals, Leinster and Munster, clashing with a vivid backdrop of blue and red. Despite a strong comeback from an early setback, Munster had to retreat from Dublin holding their heads high even though they had to deal with multiple injuries and a disrupted front row. It wasn’t a great lead into their forthcoming South African tour. As the game neared its conclusion, the increasing swarm of vacant seats indeed affirmed that there could only be one victor.
Even though Leinster remained without a score post interval for the subsequent week, they had achieved a bonus point by that time, therefore extending their lead to a whopping 20 points, nine points ahead of the red rivals.
Leinster began the game on a high, leveraging their polished blitz defence to trap Munster at the onset. They delivered three high-impact offences into the opposition’s defence. The game concluded 26-12 in favour of Leinster, with four tries and a bonus point.
Many late attendees might have missed the opening one or two tries. The contest seemed to be wrapped up by the 16th minute after three converted tries, especially after the dismissal of a Munster try by Chris Busby, which both the game and their team could have benefited from.
However, despite Munster’s commendable try from Seán O’Brien just five minutes before halftime, Leinster’s RG Snyman audaciously secured the bonus point with final play before the break. Instead of the guaranteed three points, they chose to go for a tap penalty. Following this, the game appeared to be a defensive drill, with Leinster delighting in the challenge put forth by a desperate Munster side.
With Caelan Doris’ dominant performance and Josh van der Flier’s omnipresence, Leinster delivered a solid game in which Jamison Gibson-Park also stood out, leading the pack with his agility and control. Aided by the decisive contribution of Ciaran Frawley, Leinster claimed victory over most of their direct rivals. Frawley’s contribution was noteworthy, as was his well-coordinated play with Jamie Osborne, highlighting Leinster’s stability in both the near and distant future. Osborne’s skilful possession and hard-hitting style set the tone for the match.
In the presence of Snyman, Leinster managed to create quite the havoc for Munster’s lineout. Setting off both defensively and offensively with great vigour, Leinster at first let their guard down to Munster’s inceptive attempt to sidestep them. But as Munster attempted to outflank them again, Doris managed to overcome Stephen Archer, securing a penalty for Leinster.
The predictable consequence was Munster’s weakened defence, further strained by attacks from Garry Ringrose, James Ryan, Tadhg Furlong amongst others. After some well-executed moves involving Osborne, Frawley found himself momentarily stalled before Gibson-Park sent out one of his trademark long passes, allowing James Lowe to score. Demonstrating his skill, Frawley converted the touchline and when Munster advanced, Ryan intercepted Diarmid Barron’s initial throw as Niall Scannell awaited a HIA. Leinster capitalised when another Munster lineout made a misstep. Gibson-Park’s quick thinking provided Liam Turner a path up the right touchline, Osborne’s strength and Doris’s score solidifying the try. An undisputed knock-on by Snyman went unnoticed.
The decisive third try began and ended with Hugo Keenan, who overcame Gavin Coombes and then linked with Frawley. Leinster’s offensive rhythm was complemented nicely by Gibson-Park, Doris and Ringrose, setting Lowe off for a final kick-and-chase.
In a turn of events, the Leinster team scored once again after a away from Crowley who was caught holding on, with Conan making a hard but short-lived contribution and Frawley taking advantage of a skilful pass from Osborne to outdo O’Brien and enable Keenan a clear dash to the scoreline. The Leinster supporters were elated, contrasting starkly with the shocked reactions of the Munster fans.
Munster then had a strong run, continually challenging the Leinster defence, especially when Farrell broke through with the backing of Casey and Nankivell. However, an opportunity was shut down when Busby judged a long pass from Nankivell to Nash, who was attempting to reduce the angle, to be forward. The evidently annoyed Beirne, who had been at odds with the referee throughout the match, believed reasonably that the decision could have been delayed until after the touchdown. The pass seemed to be flat.
After an additional eight phases of offensive pressure on the Leinster line, Munster secured a second scrum penalty at the corner. Despite an earlier interception by Ryan near the line, a throw reached Kleyn at the rear this time, courtesy of Scannell. Coombes accepted the tap down, attracting defenders and cleverly throwing a blind pass back to O’Brien, who slipped in from his wing behind Beirne’s deceptive run to score.
A notably poor conversion from Crowley, whose attempted penalties to the corner lacked the necessary proximity to the try-line, was an especially unfortunate miss for the team in the context of the match. Nonetheless, the final word belonged to Leinster via a series of penalties. Opting for several tap penalties under the posts as the clock neared 40 had an air of dominance about it. A series of carries by Barron, Doris and Osborne culminated in Snyman taking on Archer and Casey, emerging from the disparity grinning after marking his first try for Leinster as the blue flags waved triumphantly.
This significantly lessened the tension of the match. In fairness to Munster, they gave as good as they got, establishing one defensive set before Snyman was substituted amid mixed reactions from the divided crowd.
Even when Farrell managed to step past two opponents and successfully connected with Nankivell, Leinster was quick to regroup. Subsequently, Ringrose was poised and ready to block Nankivell’s offload, resulting in a scrum.
Despite this, Munster still had a few tricks up their sleeve. Conor Murray feigned and nimbly moved past Cian Healy and Andrew Porter to tear away. Although tackled by Keenan, Murray smoothly passed the ball to Archer from the ground. From there, Archer and Crowley set up Farrell to pass the ball, followed by Coombes setting up the grub kick that led to Mike Haley scoring.
Crowley’s successful conversion brought the game to a two-score difference, which led Doris to urge substitute Ross Byrne to attempt a goal from around 47 metres. Unfortunately, Byrne’s kick fell short and wide. Frawley, on the other hand, from a similar distance, had the range but hit the post.
By then, it was evident that Leinster had the upper hand.
The game’s scoring sequence was as follows: 6 mins Lowe score, Frawley conversion 7-0; 11 mins Doris score, Frawley conversion 14-0; 15 mins Keenan score, Frawley conversion 21-0; 35 mins O’Brien score 21-5; 40 (+1) mins Snyman score 26-5; Half-time: 26-5; 66 mins Haley score, Crowley conversion 26-12.
Leinster’s team included Hugo Keenan, Liam Turner, Garry Ringrose, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe, Ciarán Frawley, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Lee Barron, Tadhg Furlong, RG Snyman, James Ryan, Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (Capt).
Substitutions: Max Deegan for Conan (30 mins), Gus McCarthy for Barron (half-time), Ryan Baird for Snyman (50), Thomas Clarkson for Baird (52), Cian Healy for Furlong (65), Luke McGrath for Gibson-Park, Ross Byrne for Turner (both 69), Harry Byrne for Lowe (76).
The Munster team consisted of Mike Haley, Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Seán O’Brien, Jack Crowley, Craig Casey, Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer, Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne, who was also the Captain, Jack O’Donoghue, John Hodnett and Gavin Coombes. Some players were replaced during the game. Niall Scannell was replaced by Diarmuid Barron after 8 minutes and Barron was later replaced by Kieran Ryan after 16 minutes. Jean Kleyn was replaced by Tom Ahern after 50 minutes. Gavin Coombes gave way for Ruadhán Quinn after 55 minutes. Coombes came back for John Hodnett between the 59th and 70th minutes. Conor Murray took the field for Craig Casey after 60 minutes. Shay McCarthy for O’Brien and Tony Butler for Tom Farrell after 75 minutes. Jeremy Loughman was replaced by John Ryan, twice, first after 12 minutes and then again at the 52nd minute. John Ryan was finally replaced by Kieran Ryan at the 75th minute. The entire match was refereed by Chris Busby, who is part of the IRFU.