Leinster 16-6 Munster
Leinster will face the Neath Swansea Ospreys in the Magners League final at the RDS in a fortnight’s time after defeating Munster by ten points at the RDS on Saturday evening.
Rob Kearney’s try five minutes into the second half proved to be the difference between the sides in an extremely competitive encounter, while the home side’s defence was magnificent throughout, restricting their opponents to six points in total, all from the boot of Ronan O’Gara.
Munster started brightly and had the hosts pinned into their own half for the first twenty minutes, but couldn’t make their dominance felt on the scoreboard. Sexton and O’Gara traded penalties and despite both sides having try scoring opportunities, it was 3-3 at the break.
O’Gara gave Munster the perfect start in the second half with a drop goal within ten seconds of the restart, but after that, Leinster took control of the contest.
Less than five minutes later, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and finally Jonny Sexton combined to put Rob Kearney away in the corner and the full back touched down for a five pointer. Sexton converted from the touchline to put Leinster four in front and the Blues never looked like relinquishing their lead after that.
Sexton punished indiscipline from Marcus Horan to extend Leinster’s lead to seven points as Michael Cheika’s men sought to finish off their opponents.
Cian Healy looked set to do just that with twenty minutes of the second half gone, but the prop forward was stopped on the line by a high tackle from Tomás O’Leary and the scrum half was lucky to escape without a yellow card.
Sexton tacked on another three points from the resultant penalty and from then on, Leinster were content to sit back and defend their lead. Munster kept going to the very end, but never really threatened to get over the try line and Leinster have their back row and particularly Jamie Heaslip to thank for an heroic effort in defence.
Munster held on for their third victory over Munster in the Magners League this season and now have home advantage for their Grand Final meeting with the Ospreys on 29 May. The game will be Michael Cheika’s last in charge of the province and with Leinster yet to lose at home in the competition this season, the Australian has a great chance of signing off with some silverware before departing to manage Stade Francais next season.
