Unbeaten Leinster stay on course for PRO14 title hat-trick
The Leinster quest for an unprecedented hat-trick of successive Guinness PRO14 titles will roll onto next weekend’s final in Dublin after Leo Cullen’s side yet again got the better of Irish rivals Munster, this time by 13-3 at the Aviva Stadium.
A try from Ronan Kelleher and eight points from the boot of Johnny Sexton was enough to win a low-scoring, limited spectacle semi-final and leave them awaiting the winners of Saturday’s Murrayfield clash between Edinburgh and Ulster.
In contrast, Munster were left to rue a dearth of potency. Their ideas were limited in the opposition 22, there was an over-reliance on box-kicking while JJ Hanrahan was inaccurate twice off the tee in quick succession around the hour mark when just seven points separated the teams.
The result, though, was much expected. Munster had talked the talk in midweek, assistant Graham Rowntree and another World Cup winner Damian de Allende playing up their chances, but they were taxed by a five-day turnaround between matches as they fielded a dozen of the same starters from the Sunday win over Connacht and that exertion eventually took its toll against the way more rested Leinster XV.
Then there was the weight of history. The legendary Ronan O’Gara had insisted history had nothing to do with this fixture, except it very much did.
There was simply no stopping @leinsterrugby once again tonight as @Munsterrugby couldn't land a blow ?
Here's how #LEIvMUN went down at the Aviva ?? https://t.co/WXy9rSM4XG
Catch all the #GuinnessPRO14 Semi-final highlights on https://t.co/atgEcvPXRc pic.twitter.com/hW0zsDpQpj
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) September 4, 2020
Munster came into the game with just one win in 15 away to Leinster since ‘nilling’ them in September 2008 and while they were only two points shy 13 days earlier in a regulation-season derby following a late fightback, the gap at the final whistle on this occasion was pushed out to ten.
Letting Leinster dictate early on the scoreboard had too often been Munster’s downfall on these fraught assignments in the Irish capital, a dastardly derby sequence which started with that seminal Heineken Cup semi-final loss at Croke Park in 2009 and in recent years featured successive PRO14 semi-final defeats at the RDS.
You can now make that three lost league semis in a row even though Munster enjoyed a tonic of an opening, holding a three-point lead for 22 minutes before paying a heavy price for giving the hosts a sniff off a 28th-minute lineout maul.
What initially helped them was a series of uncharacteristic Leinster errors – typified by Jack Conan fumbling at halfway under dropping ball – which happened either side of Hanrahan slotting a sixth-minute kick to punish a breakdown offence. Further encouragement was the sight of Sexton’s levelling attempt from halfway falling wide.
Munster, though, couldn’t turn territory into further points in this crucial period and their positive early work unravelled on foot of the momentum shift that was Conor Murray being hit hard in possession by Hugo Keenan, a collision that had the noisy acclaim of the Leinster bench echoing around the empty stadium.
Then came a spill from Keith Earls after Sexton floated a teaser into the 22 and when a penalty ensued off the scrum, Leinster, for whom Will Connors and Caelan Doris excelled, backed their maul out of touch and Kelleher reached out to score.
Sexton, whose involvement finally brought up his 100th PRO14 appearance nearly 15 years after his January 2006 league debut at Borders, then added a kick from in front of the posts on the cusp of the half-time whistle, the seven-point margin leaving Munster with it all to do.
An issue for Munster during the opening gambit was giving Leinster some easy outs through errors when they were trying to build pressure, and the second-half started in a similar fashion with a breakdown infringement on the 22.
Then, when they were celebrating catching Keenan for holding on, the 54th-minute penalty award on the 22 was reversed as referee Andrew Brace called on his TMO to confirm it was an illegal hit from Shane Daly while James Lowe was in the air that had led to the scramble on the floor for possession.
The get-outs continued. Devin Toner stole a lineout after a penalty was punted into touch at the 22. Then Hanrahan shanked wide two penalty kicks in a four-minute spell around the hour mark before it became a two-score margin on 68 minutes, Sexton rewarding Doris’ penalty-winning breakdown nuisance. That was that, despite a late yellow card for replacement Josh van der Flier.
.@caelan_doris is tonight's Guinness Player of the Match! ?#LEIvMUN #GuinnessPRO14 pic.twitter.com/aVF9sk9iPn
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) September 4, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Firstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
99 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
99 Go to commentsHo hum.
99 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
99 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
99 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
99 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
99 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
99 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
99 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
99 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
99 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
99 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
99 Go to comments