Narrow Point Victory Makes It A Very Good Friday For Leinster

Munster and Leinster matches are always magic occasions and this one was no different. Thomond Park was full to the brim for this good Friday and the atmosphere was electric.

Under pressure Jonathon sexton needed to perform tonight but it went so wrong for him right from the start, an early attempt was charged down by Ronan O Gara and the pressure from that lead to a penalty to Munster which O Gara put over close to the halfway line to give the country men an early lead. From that re start things went worse for Sexton, his re start kick didn’t go 10 meters and munster were awarded a scrum which referee Romain Poite re set 6 times before Leinster were given a penalty for the front rows going down. Leinster from there got in a good try scoring position but Munster turned it over and the fans went wild and Munster ran it down with clean quick ball to just outside the Leinster 22 but all that pressure went to waste as Le Blue were given a penalty for a red hand in the ruck.

Munster had a numerical advantage for a short time, On the 13th minute Leinster captain Leo Cullen was shown yellow for deliberately slapping down a ball in the ruck. This gave captain O’Gara another shot at the posts which he got to make it 6-0. Leinster were on the score board shortly after. Munster were reduced to 10 after Donnacha O’Callaghan had committed a similar offence which saw Cullen get sent off for, this left the referee no option but to send him off and from the resulting penalty Sexton made it 6-3. Munster in quick succession had 2 more penalties to take it 12-3 with the half starting to die out. A brief time of dominance from Leinster saw them earn a penalty but it was not Jonathan Sexton taking it, he was injured in the run up to the penalty so he left the kicking duties to Fergus Mc Fadden who put it over to make it 12-6. Leinster were starting to really pressure the home team and on a few occasions got into some good try scoring positions, and their patience was on 37 minutes awarded with a penalty, which was missed by Sexton, much to the delight of the Munster fans, but the fans were silenced moments later, a great pass from Isa Nacewa put Rob Kearney in the corner for a try on 40 minutes and the conversion was made by Sexton and Leinster had a narrow 1 point lead heading into the break.

In the second half Munster came out all guns blazing and were putting Leinster under massive pressure but the blues were thankful to hear the referees whistle for a penalty which gave them a way out of their 22. This was turning out to be a great match with hot tempers on the pitch and in the stands too. On the pitch though tempers were really heating up and Leinster had another man in the bin on 50 minutes. Nathan Hines appeared to spear tackle Ian Dowling, in the rule book that is a red card offence but the French ref only saw a yellow card in it. Munster had a resulting penalty which the captain put over to give the reds a 15-13 lead. It was a very mixed night for Sexton he had two more penalty attempts both missed but made up for it when he gave Leinster a 1 point lead at 16-15. The heat in this game kept going up with both sides creating good chances and Munster were really desperate for the winning try but Leinsters defence wouldn’t budge. At the end of the day the blues defence was just too good for Munster and they grabbed a 1 point victory.

Final score Munster 15-16 Leinster

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.