Munster Away 26/12 19:35 Eir Sport 1

[Ruckedtobits]

Pretty clear that the lineout for our try was crooked imo.

But Marshall got away with another in the first half.

Also not sure how Brace didn't give a pen for that late hit on Daly. No malice in it but clear contact with the face.

I thought the Cronin 'on arms' was fine personally, he made an attempt. Marshall could've been yellowed but he did slip too.

Ref and TMO missed loads in this game ...

For Beirne's "turnover" on the line, Brace missed, or didn't penalise:

1. Murray interfered with McGrath before the ball was out of the scrum;
2. The first Munster tackle on Doris didn't release him or allow him to play the ball;
3. The Munster player on the openside of the initial breakdown is at least a foot offside;
4. Beirne entered from the side - not the hindmost foot as required by law - to make the poach.

Brace missed a lot on both sides, but Porter gave away a couple of soft penalties in an otherwise excellent display.

As for Toland, there are no words for the depth of my apathy towards his commentating.

We were not excellent tonight except in taking our try, pilfering their lineouts and Keenan's fielding. They looked more dangerous when they were trying to go wide in order to score and get ahead of us, rather than the remaining 70 mins when they were trying to maul us or pick and go throught us. Neither Hanrihan nor Healy have the confidence or ability to release de Allende or Earls or Farrell into one on one positions where any one of them could cause us real damage.

Really enjoyed the win and the overall fightback but the first 10 minutes were terrible and we need to delete such moments from our performances

[blockhead]

One of the panelists on RTE Radio post-match made no bones about the fact that he was absolutley gutted by the result.
In his opinion, Munster man for man have a better squad than Leinster.
I thought that that was an interesting comment.

[Dexter]

One of the panelists on RTE Radio post-match made no bones about the fact that he was absolutley gutted by the result.
In his opinion, Munster man for man have a better squad than Leinster.
I thought that that was an interesting comment.

Doesn't surprise me. These guys are still living in 2006.

[Fan with smartphone]

Thought Porter’s scrummaging looked very good! The first scrum penalty given to Munster I wasn’t so sure about at all. Munster abandoned all technique to really go for it but they weren’t moving him. It ended up collapsing on that side, but it was like waves running over a rock. On Leinster ball it was completely solid. Tackled his socks off as mentioned above.

I was sceptical about the conversion to tighthead when it first happened. He reminded me of Andrew Sheridan a bit as an under 20, a potentially destructive loosehead scrummager. Watching that tonight though, the kind of tighthead platform he delivered is huge.

Munster have a very decent side there and Cronin is someone I think has been playing really well for them. I thought he was a chance to get into the Irish squad. He had a few good moments tonight but he found Porter tough going and his discipline was patchy. That’s what cost Munster really. Wyncherley too has been playing great stuff but the offside led to Larmour’s try and there was just no call for it whatsoever. Leinster were disciplined, though I agree rtb - Munster weren’t really stressing them defensively to test it more.

You’d like to see both teams play with a bit more ambition, but they are a pretty good side anyway as it is.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

Biggest improvement for me was focus on our own ruck ball. Too many times in recent seasons we have taken our ruck for granted and given away silly turnovers to aggressive counter rucking.

completely agree but we went a tad wayward on their try line. they turned us over way to easily.

[curates_egg]

I mean to have [it], even if it must be burglary

Are you a sponge or a stone?

[curates_egg]

lineout let us down again

Were we watching the same game? I think we stole 3 Munster lineouts and made a mess of 2 or 3 more. And our own ball was largely secure apart from 2 or 3 ropey ones. Compared to what we have served up recently, and considering the fact that both hookers threw well, and also considering how feted the opposition lineout is, that was a brilliant lineout performance.

I agree. Was surprised to see a few people criticising our lineout. It was a phenomenal defensive lineout. I made 6/7 turnovers (of which at least 3 if not 4 were steals).
We also secured most of ours, and Cronin threw very well. They sent up a very high jumper with perfect timing at 2 a couple of times and he arced the ball perfectly over them.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Biggest improvement for me was focus on our own ruck ball. Too many times in recent seasons we have taken our ruck for granted and given away silly turnovers to aggressive counter rucking.

completely agree but we went a tad wayward on their try line. they turned us over way to easily.

I thought both turnovers on their line were harsh tbh, red bodies all over the wrong side and poacher in the side. But yeah I think we pick a too many times in those situations

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I really don't get the fuss about that Munster performance on the coverage. They didn't do a whole lot apart from go after Larmour in the air and they even messed that up in the last quarter. How often did DDA get his hands on the ball? The only run I can remember is when he dropped it...so didn't really get his hands on it then either. The same goes for Farrell, Earls, and Daly. Now it may not have been a night for running the ball but I expected more and they lost the run of themselves late on when they did try to run it. Murray kicked brilliantly for most of the game, then late on they (especially Casey) started to kick too long but more worryingly from their POV they were kicking to Keenan when Larmour was up in the line and also didn't seem to try and expose JGP on the wing at all. I thought Luke kicked really well for us but by keeping the ball on the right hand side we were just engaging in a kick tennis that exposed Larmour time and again.

Our aerial work is a big concern again but tactically I wish we'd stop inviting pressure on ourselves and just find grass down the field. We couldn't get a hold of the game in that first 10/15 minutes and just working our way up the pitch with long kicks would have helped.

I think if we'd been able to bring JGP on at 9 then we'd have put them away quite handily in the last quarter. I know the kicking was important but I reckon he'd have had a big impact.

Certainly a scrappy performance from us but I think our poor work in the air and poor kicking game made everything else seem worse because it prevented us from getting that foothold at times. Delighted that we attacked their lineout more aggressively than usual and James Ryan was great again. I'd like to see us counter ruck more often though. We defended well close to our line at times but you can't just keep them at bay forever, at some stage you've got to win the ball back and I feel like we waste a lot of opportunities after good chop tackles or double hits. Robbie is the form player in the country right now and I just hope he stays injury free and keeps it up. Good to see Murray back to near his best as well.

[MarkyDeSad]

The only thing that counts in a derby game is the result. They are rarely things of beauty and finesse, going to Thomond and grinding out a win on a freezing evening when your league season depends on it is brilliant. I'll be smiling for a while about this one. Huge congratulations to all involved, delighted.

[Blue not red blood]

Always great to beat our southern cousins.
as they say in Scotland,
And sent them homeward to think again

[Morf]

Pretty clear that the lineout for our try was crooked imo.

But Marshall got away with another in the first half.

Also not sure how Brace didn't give a pen for that late hit on Daly. No malice in it but clear contact with the face.

I thought the Cronin 'on arms' was fine personally, he made an attempt. Marshall could've been yellowed but he did slip too.

Ref and TMO missed loads in this game ...

Think that's a fairly consistent trend in big interpros before Irish squads are picked/assembled. A lot more 'rugby incidents' occur than cards/possible citings.

[hugonaut]

Very happy with that win. I always enjoy watching Leinster beat Munster, it's something that never gets old for me.

Obviously it was just a regular season game, but there was quite a bit of hype around it. Munster are better than they have been in a good few years and had a lot of momentum going into that match. You could see where journalists were coming from with regards to the 'final trial' angle: the proximity of the Six Nations, no national squad announced, two strong teams selected, and a dearth of European rugby from which to judge the performance level of individual players.

James Ryan had a blinder, right back to his best and performing in every single aspect of his duties. Andrew Porter came right after him, definitely the pick of the props. Henshaw was in great form – he's a particular favourite of mine and I think he has become under-rated over the last while, so I was delighted to see him perform so well against a quality opposite number in de Allende. Ringer was able to hit the ground running in difficult conditions after a very disrupted start to the season, and he just makes any team he is in look more dangerous. Keenan was the pick of the outside backs on the pitch, and for all the criticism that Larmour has taken [legitimately] for his fielding, he was great in attack ... such a threat!

The scrum was strong [and Cian had a much better all round performance than he had against Ulster], the lineout an awful lot better than it has been in recent times and outstanding on the opposition throw, and our goal-kicking was excellent. Ross Byrne's conversion on Larmour's try made a huge difference to the last ten minutes of the game and it was such a difficult kick that nobody would have been sore if he had missed it. I'd like to see more variety in our restarts, which is an area in which we tend towards the formulaic. It's a minor peeve though.

The backrows from both sides worked hard and seemed to cancel each other out, which was not unexpected. Beirne was very good for them, especially without the ball – a huge jackal threat and very busy tackler. Kleyn was solid, an improved player this season. Murray has been making progress towards the level he has shown in the past, and this showing continued the path. Not really sure about their centres – they obviously take a lot of stopping as individuals, but they were second best today, nor do they combine as more than a sum of their parts.

I couldn't believe that Hanrahan missed that sitter from inside the 22 – he has missed important kicks [including three very gettable ones] against us in the last three games. It was a tight game and every point made a difference.

Going down to Thomond and getting the win was a cracking result. I wasn't sure we were in good enough form to get the job done, but we stuck at it and the try was a magnificent number. Well done the lads!

[hugonaut]

5 wins in a row over Munster.
9 wins out of the last 10 games.

Those records are something else!

[backrower8]

Agree with your summation Hugonaut, only I would have Robbie’s performance over Keenan’s.

That’s the best I have seen of Murray in years.

James Ryan was my MOTM. The one thing I think he needs to work on most is not going to ground too early.

[Cianostays]

McGrath, I believe, has gotten himself back into the Ireland squad after that. Those 2 runs up the left in the 2nd half alleviated a lot of pressure. Even if he throws the odd wobbly pass, that intelligence at 9 is priceless.

Sent from my 5029Y_EEA using Tapatalk

[Dexter]

Stats, Munster : Leinster

Tries 1 : 1
Possession 50 : 50
Metres gained 169 : 273
Tackles 180 : 195
Clean breaks 2 : 3

In this case the scoreline was a pretty decent reflection of the stats.

[Laighin Break]

ESPN has quite different stats to the ones above, the most glaring being Leinster at 6 clean breaks to Munster's 2

[Oldschool]

What do Donald Trump and Munster have in common?

I'll bite just so as you won't be disappointed and the rest of your day ruined.
Because 99.999% of Leinster fans detest, hate, despise etc etc etc them.
Ah go on smile.

[curates_egg]

McGrath, I believe, has gotten himself back into the Ireland squad after that. Those 2 runs up the left in the 2nd half alleviated a lot of pressure. Even if he throws the odd wobbly pass, that intelligence at 9 is priceless.

Sent from my 5029Y_EEA using Tapatalk

Some of his passing was woe jaysus and his kicking wasn’t great.
He’s such a competitor though. Name me a better pound for pound defender in the game: I’ll wait.

Not just his tackling but also backfield cover. I was hoping Larmour would get tied up in every ruck, so McGrath could field kicks instead of him.