The former Roscrea man clearly didn\u2019t take kindly to McCarthy\u2019s strong right paw keeping him in check. Martin had to blow his whistle for a second time, instructing Milne to walk away from the scene of the crime. This was going to be one of those nights.<\/p>\n
A 13-8 victory was a reminder of Leinster\u2019s power advantage. They were caught on the hop earlier this season in Croke Park. Not this time. This contest was defined by brute force and, occasionally, the referee\u2019s shrill blast.<\/p>\n
Munster were frustrated by two officiating decisions at the end of either half. As the opening 40 came to a close, Alex Nankivell\u2019s long, floated pass looked to have taken out the Leinster blitz which, up to that point, had been mighty effective. Mike Haley and Shane Daly galloped into the 22, only for play to be blown up. Forward pass, half-time. It looked harsh. <\/p>\n
Fast forward 40 minutes and Jack Crowley was pacing after Martin once the final whistle went. With Munster chasing the converted try which would hand them victory, Rieko Ioane\u2019s defensive read dislodged the ball in a collision with Crowley. He appeared to demand a penalty for deliberate knock-on. No dice. Game over. What is it about grumpy Irish outhalves?<\/p>\n
The whole affair left Munster with a frustrated taste in the mouth. \u201cI think Leinster will probably walk away from here feeling like they got away with one,\u201d said their captain Tadhg Beirne.<\/p>\n
Winners are grinners, as they say, and Leinster were certainly happy to point to their defensive showing with pride. An intriguing battle of the locks, McCarthy and James Ryan vs Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern and Beirne (albeit the latter was at six) brought about a bruising contest.<\/p>\n
![\"Leinster's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LEDQFSBG4HKWDAGXH66X37F67E.jpg\")
Leinster’s Joe McCarthy and Munster’s Edwin Edogbo and Tom Ahern. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Munster\u2019s trio impacted the breakdown, winning a turnover each. McCarthy and Ryan, alongside Doris, were more than happy to throw their weight around when counter-rucking.<\/p>\n
Munster head coach Clayton McMillan found himself frustrated with how the breakdown was officiated. \u201cThere were a couple of occasions where we needed to be better in our ball presentation,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there were times I think where men were swimming around the corners of rucks, something that was brought to the officials\u2019 attention pregame.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew it was going to be a contest at the breakdown. A big song and dance was made about that being ruled out of the game at the beginning of the season. It doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s being reffed. But you don\u2019t deal with what you\u2019re dealing with on the day and we need to be better looking after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think probably that area was the defining area in the game really.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both sides risked illegality but Leinster certainly brought more of a disruptive edge. Three times in the first half Ciar\u00e1n Frawley made defensive reads which caught opposite number Haley behind the gainline. In the second half, with Leinster defending against a late onslaught, Ryan may or may not have stripped Jack O\u2019Donoghue before his knee hit the ground. He got the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n
Ioane made two good man-and-ball tackles, the game-ender on Crowley and another on Beirne which, unfortunately for him, rebounded off the All Black and into the hands of Crowley in space. He sent Dan Kelly over for a late score which made things interesting.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, McCarthy was a menace across the park, particularly in the maul. Twice he was prominent in barging through a wall of red jerseys, Doris, R\u00f3nan Kelleher and Max Deegan helping him stop one particular drive close to the Leinster line. For the game\u2019s opening score, McCarthy\u2019s change of direction when leading a Leinster maul, shifting towards the space vacated by multiple Munster defenders after a failed counter-shove, created the path for Van der Flier to dot down untouched.<\/p>\n
A victory built on disruptive defence and bullying forward play should not distract from Leinster\u2019s reliance on heft for their lone score. That the attack has not yet clicked in a season disrupted by Lions layoffs and international commitments has been well documented. At this stage, though, Leinster have had two European matches and the same number of interpros with the first choice contingent at their disposal. They still haven\u2019t found their spark.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to properly assess how far they are from grasping it. Ioane made plenty of ground \u2013 his 39 metres leading Leinster \u2013 particularly on first phase. Yet time and again a killer pass didn\u2019t come. It\u2019s a simplistic framing, but two passes on 10 carries from your 88-cap All Black doesn\u2019t feel right. Support runners were sometimes lacking, but that can\u2019t be the whole story. Maybe he too just needs time.<\/p>\n
![\"Leinster's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/7OZEXKCAGN2DOFJI3JJF5G3OO4.jpg\")
Leinster’s Rieko Ioane makes a break at Thomond Park. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n
On a night where the outhalf\u2019s influence was minimal, Harry Byrne had a nice delayed pass to nearly put Frawley through a try-scoring gap. His kicking out of hand and from the tee was also strong.<\/p>\n
Munster undeniably sought to be the more creative side. They just weren\u2019t allowed sufficient opportunities. At this stage of the season, Leinster didn\u2019t seem to mind their own lack of cutting edge. Until they find it, the public debate on the merits of their style won\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n
SCORING SEQUENCE \u2013 6 mins: Van der Flier try, Byrne con, 0-7; Half-time 0-7; 53: Byrne pen, 0-10; 55: Crowley pen, 3-10; 60: Byrne pen, 3-13; 70: Kelly try 8-13.<\/p>\n
MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Michael Milne, Lee Barron, Michael Ala\u2019alatoa; Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern; Tadhg Beirne (capt), Jack O\u2019Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.<\/p>\n
Replacements: Jean Kleyn for Edogbo (50 mins); Diarmuid Barron for Lee Barron, Jeremy Loughman for Milne, John Ryan for Ala\u2019alatoa (all 55); Dan Kelly for Abrahams (57); Fineen Wycherley for Ahern, John Hodnett for O\u2019Donoghue (both 67); Paddy Patterson for Casey (73); O\u2019Donoghue for Beirne (75).<\/p>\n
LEINSTER: Ciar\u00e1n Frawley; Tommy O\u2019Brien, Rieko Ioane, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, R\u00f3nan Kelleher, Tom Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).<\/p>\n
Replacements: Charlie Tector for Henshaw (34 mins); Tadhg Furlong for Clarkson (49); Paddy McCarthy for Porter (50); John McKee for Kelleher (68); Scott Penny for Van der Flier, Fintan Gunne for Gibson-Park (both 75); Andrew Osborne for O\u2019Brien (78).<\/p>\n
Not used: Diarmuid Mangan.<\/p>\n
Referee: Peter Martin (IRFU).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"URC: Munster 8 Leinster 13 The game\u2019s first ruck set the tone for a narky affair. Munster loosehead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,11287,11897,43,40,38,41,39,14881],"class_list":["post-214698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-munster-rugby","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}