There have been bigger and better days. There have been bigger crowds and higher-quality affairs. But there have been worse days too.
There appeared to be many more empty seats in the stands than was the case last Thursday night when the Republic of Ireland hosted Georgia in front of 39,000-plus, even if Saturday’s official attendance was given as 40,527. That still confirms its status as the best attended club or provincial match in the world over the past few years.
“I think it was great, I don’t know what the numbers were but 41-42,000, it’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” said Leo Cullen. “People want to knock the Pro12 but it’s developing as a tournament and it’s been full on, some really good games so far in the first six rounds and it’s pretty congested up at the top of that leader board.
Good intensity
“There are some really good teams. It was tough last year because the likes of Glasgow and Ospreys were missing a lot of players, the same as ourselves and other Irish teams, other teams stole a march in that period. But you can see now, in all of these games the teams are really, really focused.
“Today, I thought there was really good intensity from the players, I know what’s at stake. It was a bit of an arm wrestle, but you look back over history there’s rarely been five tries in these games. They’re always tight, one or two tries here or there. Five today. It wasn’t the prettiest but it was full on. I thought it was good.”
On the debit side, the officials were far too influential, mixing some good decisions with some very bad ones. Nor, in truth, was there much doubt about the likely identity of the winners from a long way out.
Admittedly, this was no great surprise given Leinster were at home and look to have more about them right now, especially with their scrum and defence on top, and the in-form Johnny Sexton being augmented by a very impressive debut by Robbie Henshaw. In tandem with the free-running Garry Ringrose, this 10-12-13 axis had a futuristic look to it, both in blue and in green.
Asked what he most liked about the performance, Cullen said: “I suppose the way we managed the game.” Highlighting the way Leinster applied pressure with their defence, he said: “That was pleasing.”
Indeed, for all Munster’s multiple phases in the first quarter especially, they were either forced into spilling the ball in contact, kicking it away or conceding penalties.
Looking on from up high in the cheap seats, it did look as if Leinster were relatively comfortable winners, making five line breaks to two and seeming to have Munster’s phased play under wraps save for when the away side got their maul going.
That earned their first try for captain Peter O'Mahony and led to the close-in carrying from which, with the introduction of Ian Keatley in tandem with Tyler Bleyendaal, the pair combined with Simon Zebo to put some pace and width on the ball and put Jaco Taute over.
Try count
Coming at 25-7 down with five minutes remaining, it felt like a consolation score, but it allowed Rassie Erasmus to have a different take on things.
“We scored two tries, they scored three, so they scored one more try than us and I think we were over the line once, so we could have scored three and they scored three,” he said.
“Overall I think that tells the story, there’s different ways to attack. I think certainly we had opportunities, and the two tries they scored; one was really well worked from the scrum, the other one was a misfielding of kicks, so it could have been really close, if you look at the try count.”
He could also have questioned the legality of Isa Nacewa's second try, given Rob Kearney's pass was forward, as well as the Keystone Cops nature of the third by Jamison Gibson-Park. That was a close but correct call in favour of the home side, as was the penalty against James Cronin for a double movement which denied Munster a five-metre scrum.
Certainly, Erasmus had a point when suggesting that had their increased post-interval intensity been rewarded with a try, “the next 30 minutes are a dog fight, but then all of a sudden you get a penalty against you and they score a soft try, so we must learn to use those big moments”.
Tactically smarter and more varied, Leinster also looked better prepared, filling the channels to counter Conor Murray’s box-kicking game while having some joy when attacking Munster’s right-handed blindside.
Blindside try
The defensive malfunction for Nacewa’s blindside try off a scrum in a three-on-three was down to
Darren Sweetman
biting in.“The winger missed his tackle, there is not even going to be debate about that. Sweets should have made the tackle and he knows that.”
Although they lack ball-carrying ballast in midfield without Francis Saili, Erasmus suggested the option of playing Keatley and Bleyendaal as dual playmakers is only for endgames.
Scoring sequence: 6 mins Sexton pen 3-0; 10 mins Sexton pen 6-0; 26 mins P O'Mahony try, Bleyendaal con 6-7; 35 mins Nacewa try 11-7; (half-time 11-7); 55 mins Nacewa rtry, Sexton con 18-7; 68 mins Gibson-Park try, Sexton con 25-7; 75 mins Taute try, Keatley con 25-14.
LEINSTER: Rob Kearney; Rory O'Loughlin, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Isa Nacewa (capt); Jonathan Sexton, Luke McGrath; Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong, Devin Toner, Ian Nagle, Rhys Ruddock, Jordi Murphy, Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: Jack McGrath for Healy (49 mins), Ross Molony for Nagle (54 mins), Dan Leavy for Murphy (61 mins), James Tracy for Cronin, Mike Ross for Furlong, Jamison Gibson Park for L McGrath (all 64 mins), Joey Carbery for Sexton (69 mins), Noel Reid for Kearney (76 mins).
MUNSTER: Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Keith Earls, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Tyler Bleyendaal, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan, Donnacha Ryan, Billy Holland, Peter O'Mahony (capt), Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander.
Replacements: Jack O'Donoghue for O'Mahony (half-time), James Cronin for Kilcoyne (46 mins), Jaco Taute for Earls (57 mins), Stephen Archer for Ryan (63 mins), Robin Copeland for Ryan (69 mins), Ian Keatley for R Scannell (71 mins), Duncan Casey for N Scannell (73 mins).
Referee: David Wilkinson (IRFU)
