Man-of-the-match Ross Byrne’s 69th-minute penalty edged Leinster over the finish line in a thunderous 30-22 GUINNESS PRO14 derby win over Munster at the Aviva Stadium.
It was three tries apiece in another edge-of-the-seat edition of this enduring interprovincial rivalry, with out-half Ross Byrne, who started in place of a rested Jonathan Sexton, kicking a crucial 13 points. The result keeps Leinster top of Conference B ahead of the start of their Heineken Champions Cup title defence.
The proximity of next Friday night’s Pool 1 opener against Wasps saw Leo Cullen rest some frontliners, while Munster were closer to first choice in their selection with captain Peter O’Mahony, Keith Earls and CJ Stander featuring in the starting line-up.
A penalty try and a James Lowe score, either side of Earls’ sin-binning, powered Leinster ahead, and while the visitors impressed with Tadhg Beirne and CJ Stander tries in response, two Byrne penalties had the hosts 20-12 up at half-time.
Lowe completed his brace but former Leinster out-half Joey Carbery helped Munster stay right in the hunt with a penalty and the conversion of Alby Mathewson’s try. Byrne’s right boot decided the outcome, though, and Munster were left to feel aggrieved with referee Ben Whitehouse’s handling of some of the game’s big moments, including the contentious penalty try decision.
After surviving some early Munster pressure and a blocked Lowe kick, Leinster hit the front from a Lowe-inspired 10th-minute attack. The Kiwi winger sent Dan Leavy charging into the visitors’ 22 and his attempted return pass to Lowe prompted an early tackle from Earls, who suffered the double blow of a yellow card and a penalty try.
Lowe showed his finishing prowess four minutes later, gobbling up Jamison Gibson-Park’s delicious pass and battling past both Mathewson and Niall Scannell to score in the left corner. Byrne brilliantly converted for a 14-0 lead, but Beirne won a five-metre lineout and popped up soon after to touch down against his native province.
Dan Goggin’s half-break almost led to a second Munster try before Stander successfully barrelled over in the 27th minute through the tackles of Byrne and Gibson-Park. Carbery added the extras this time to make it a two-point game, a top-notch recovery from Johann van Graan’s men.
Tempers flared briefly but once order was restored, Leinster gave themselves an eight-point cushion before the break. Nailing two penalty efforts, Byrne punished a Niall Scannell breakdown infringement and a last-minute lineout sack following Rory O’Loughlin’s turnover penalty-producing tackle on Andrew Conway.
Leinster kept the scoreboard moving early on the restart as scrum half Gibson-Park sent a skip pass over Earls and teed up a diving Lowe to finish strongly despite Jean Kleyn’s despairing challenge. Byrne kept up his fine kicking display, leaving Munster 15 points adrift.
It could have been so different for the visitors who thought they had scored a try of their own before Lowe’s second of the night. Just as he throwing a pass in attack, Robbie Henshaw was caught by a strong tackle from Sam Arnold, the ball went loose and Earls scooted clear from his 22 to dot down. However, assistant referee Mike English adjudged that Arnold was guilty of a deliberate knock-on and the try was ruled out.
Carbery did draw the Reds closer with a well-struck 55th-minute penalty, and their forwards delivered a superb maul up to the Leinster 22. Try-hunting hooker Scannell was at the heart of another muscular drive, but there was no denying All Black Mathewson who sniped over past O’Loughlin and Rhys Ruddock following a series of scrum penalties in front of the posts.
Munster felt those infringements warranted a yellow card but Leinster remained at their full complement and Byrne duly punished a block by Stephen Archer on Fergus McFadden, making it two wins-out-of-two from the October interpros and leaving Munster out of bonus point territory.
Leinster’s ninth successive victory at Irish Rugby HQ, which was watched by an attendance of 50,120, capped off a memorable night for much-decorated full-back Rob Kearney, who made his 200th appearance for the province, and Luke McGrath who came on to win cap number 100.
Giving his reaction afterwards, Leinster head coach Cullen said: “We’re pleased with the result. There are certainly aspects of the performance which we will have a very close look at. I thought Munster came with good intent, we got off to a good start and James caused a bit of damage down the left side which leads to two tries in relatively quick succession.
“It allows us to build a lead in the game and we always had our noses in front. I thought Ross managed the game quite well, Munster came back strong at various different stages. I picked a team today with next week in mind so it was good to get the win and to see a lot of guys come through relatively unscathed.
“We’re delighted to get those guys through. Is it the perfect game for them to do it? It’s the perfect game having got through it and got a positive result. Looking before the game, you’re nervous about the prospect of them coming up against a team that is more battle-hardened than we were, but having come through it now, we’re very pleased.”
Munster supremo van Graan commented: “We worked pretty hard over the past few weeks to work on our composure. I thought we did that really well and came back to 14-12. Look, if the referee thought that there was interference with the blue player (Lowe) then the laws of the game say it has to be a penalty try and a yellow card. He just made that decision so just stick with that decision.
“I think you’ve got to first give credit to the opposition. We got beaten by the better team today, unfortunately. Tonight was a great occasion for Irish rugby. The two teams went at each other for 80 minutes and unfortunately certain calls went against our team.
“That being said, with five or ten minutes to go we conceded another penalty that took the game away from us; made it eight points and impossible for us to get back into the game.”
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