Wasteful Leinster survive Munster scare in Dublin
Replacement Rob Russell’s late bonus-point try ended a youthful Munster’s valiant effort as Leinster claimed a 27-13 derby win at the Aviva Stadium.
Munster were only 7-6 behind at half-time, Joey Carbery kicking two penalties either side of Scott Penny’s 27th-minute try.
The visitors put sin-binnings for Keynan Knox and Jean Kleyn behind them with a well-worked score from Liam Coombes.
Crucially, Dan Sheehan was quick to respond for Leinster in the 49th minute and, from then on, it was smart wet-weather rugby that took the United Rugby Championship leaders clear.
Captain Johnny Sexton and Player of the Match Luke McGrath seized control, the latter crossing from a close-in maul. The final flourish put Russell over in the left corner.
Leinster, who were often guilty of misfiring in the opposition 22, were held scoreless despite a dominant start. Jason Jenkins was held up early on and Sexton put a penalty wide.
Having missed a longer effort just moments earlier, Carbery kicked a territory-starved Munster ahead in the 21st minute.
However, prop Knox’s forearm soon made contact with James Ryan’s head for a yellow card. Penny duly burrowed in under the posts for Sexton to convert.
Jack Crowley and Tom Ahern increased their influence for Munster in broken play, the momentum leading to a second Carbery penalty.
A resilient Munster ended the opening half with Kleyn in the bin for taking out Jamie Osborne after a kick, but skipper Jack O’Donoghue held up Sheehan from a maul.
Roaring back in attack, Gavin Coombes’ looping pass sent his cousin Liam over after O’Donoghue’s kick chase had forced an error from Jimmy O’Brien.
Although a brilliant Carbery conversion gave Munster a six-point buffer, Sheehan replied with his sixth try of the season. He dummied through to score from a lineout drive.
Sexton’s drilled conversion restored Leinster’s lead, and the 37-year-old playmaker landed a 56th-minute penalty to leave it 17-13.
McGrath then stole a march on Dave Kilcoyne and Ben Healy to add the third try. Some prolonged Munster pressure failed to produce a score, and the pacy Russell sealed the bonus point with less then three minutes to go.
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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