Here are our five takeaways from Croke Park following a surprise 31-14 bonus point win for Munster over Irish rivals Leinster in their Saturday evening United Rugby Championship fixture.<\/p>\n
The top line<\/p>\n
What is rare is wonderful in sport, and this win by Munster \u2013 just their fourth in 25 league encounters against a Leinster team with Leo Cullen as head coach since 2015 \u2013 was a delicious riposte served icily cold just three days after Andy Farrell named a 34-man Ireland squad consisting of 21 Leinster players and a measly four from Munster<\/a>.<\/p>\n A penny for your thoughts now, Andy. Apart from their scrum, Munster<\/a> were tremendous value for their 17-point, four tries to two success, and it will be a real badge of honour for them that Leinster\u2019s much vaunted attack was held scoreless for 74 minutes after the hosts had taken the lead with a seventh-minute converted Ronan Kelleher maul try.<\/p>\n No one would have guessed it at the time, but Leinster weren\u2019t to score again until the final play in the 81st minute, Scott Penny grabbing a consolation long after numerous home fans had called it a night and had exited their seats.<\/p>\n With Munster skipper Tadhg Beirne a breakdown nuisance, out-half Jack Crowley<\/a> produced a man-of-the-match effort that included his outrageous chip kick assist to usher Tom Farrell to the line on 24 minutes.<\/p>\n That gave Munster the lead, as they had already hit back through a Brian Gleeson try, and their superb first half was complete when rookie scrum-half Ethan Coughlan picked off a Jamison Gibson-Park on the 22 and raced down the other end to score.<\/p>\n It was a play reminiscent of that time in a 2009 European Cup semi-final when Brian O\u2019Driscoll burgled Ronan O\u2019Gara to race away \u2013 only this one favoured Munster and the 21-7 interval scoreline set Leinster an intriguing challenge that was quite a contrast to what happened a year ago at Croke Park when the hosts had a non-event game in the bag with three tries in the opening 15 minutes.<\/p>\n Leinster\u2019s climb got more difficult with the 43rd-minute exit of the injured RG Snyman and Crowley\u2019s long-range 49th-minute penalty. That left it 24-7, and the score remained that way until the frantic finish that featured a 76th-minute penalty try for Munster and a yellow card for Ciaran Frawley, followed by Penny\u2019s consolation.<\/p>\n Munster player ratings: Jack Crowley outclasses Sam Prendergast in emphatic win while \u2018superhuman\u2019 Tadhg Beirne stars<\/a><\/p>\n Sam versus Jack<\/p>\n So much commentary in the build-up focused on the head-to-head clash at out-half between Leinster\u2019s Sam Prendergast and Munster\u2019s Crowley. It was Prendergast who usurped Crowley as the Ireland No.10 last November after head coach Farrell took a dislike to how Crowley fared in the role as the starter in the Dublin defeat to New Zealand.<\/p>\n Despite much criticism, Prendergast held the jersey when Simon Easterby and Paul O\u2019Connell were interim Six Nations and July tour head coaches in Farrell\u2019s absence, but there should now be no debate that Crowley deserves to be the starting out-half in Chicago when Ireland play New Zealand again on November 1.<\/p>\n He produced an all-round masterclass at Croke Park in contrast to the dithering Prendergast, who looked a complete novice on the night.<\/p>\n Whereas Crowley was handing his team momentum with nearly every contribution he made, it was noticeable that Gibson-Park only seemed to seek out Prendergast as a last resort when it came to passing the ball to him.<\/p>\n Crowley\u2019s stand-out moment was his kicked assist to set up Tom Farrell for his first half-try, but there were plenty of other highlights, including a monster long-range penalty into Hill 16 despite the tricky conditions.<\/p>\n In comparison, Prendergast had multiple dud contributions: for instance, check out his lame duck kick on 31 minutes that led to Munster calling an easy mark.<\/p>\n You could tell as soon as he missed touch with a 12th-minute penalty clearance kick that Prendergast was miles off, and it showed the whole way through, even in the second half with Leinster hunting a score to ignite the comeback that never materialised.<\/p>\n No question about it, Crowley must start for Ireland at Soldier Field. His performance in this derby was the irrefutable selection evidence.<\/p>\n Jack Crowley\u2019s pin-point accurate chip \ud83c\udfaf<\/p>\n Tom Farrell\u2019s outrageous catch and finish \ud83d\ude0d<\/p>\n Mic drop \ud83e\udef3\ud83c\udfa4<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfa Watch all the action LIVE on Premier Sports#BKTURC<\/a> #URC<\/a> | #LEIvMUN<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/t1szmH1qyw<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) October 18, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Tom Farrell\u2019s menace<\/p>\n With Leinster now wallowing in 12th place on the URC table after three defeats in four rounds and Munster leading the way at the top with four wins, the full-time bragging rights would have been very sweet for the Croke Park visitors.<\/p>\n Normally, the Ireland autumn Test squad gets named after this derby, but with the schedule starting early with the November 1 meeting with the All Blacks in the USA, head coach Farrell went early and was left with egg on his face that gave 21 places to Leinster players and just four to Munster.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a situation reminiscent of 2016 when Joe Schmidt went early with his Irish squad to tour South Africa. His overemphasis on Leinster only fed into the overlooked Connacht\u2019s determination to prove a point with their PRO12 final ambush that following weekend in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n One Munster player whose form is certainly being ignored is their midfielder Farrell, the scorer of the majestic try that gave them their lead at Croke Park. It was the summer of 2024 when he made the move south from Connacht, and his contribution since then has been immense.<\/p>\n Included in the 2024\/25 URC Dream Team, he has continued that excellence into this new season and would have felt he had a point to prove over his latest Irish snub.<\/p>\n Yes, he turned 32 earlier this month and is uncapped, but that lack of pedigree didn\u2019t hold him back in this derby. Pitted against a partnership of Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw, who left the field subdued on 57 minutes, Farrell menacingly looked the part.<\/p>\n Of course, it would have been a longshot for him to dislodge the established trio of Ringrose, Henshaw or Bundee Aki from the Irish squad, but he will rightly still feel peeved that Ulster\u2019s Stuart McCloskey was included ahead of him.<\/p>\n Based on this all-action performance, which would have seen a second try credited to him but for Frawley\u2019s yellow-carded penalty try tackle, Farrell is having the time of his life but hasn\u2019t made the Ireland cut as selection was done on reputation and not current form.<\/p>\n Read that like a book \ud83d\udcd6<\/p>\n A clever intercept and Ethan Coughlan sprints away for @Munsterrugby<\/a> third try of the match \u26a1\ufe0f<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfa Watch all the action LIVE on Premier Sports \ud83c\udfc9#BKTURC<\/a> #URC<\/a> | #LEIvMUN<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/EIUUv5E7sF<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) October 18, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The Leinster scrum<\/p>\n In a week where eight of the nine front row forwards named in the Ireland squad were from Leinster, it was time that the effort of their scrum against Munster was the only part of their performance that functioned to an acceptable level.<\/p>\n The set-piece won three scrum penalties during the early stages when it seemed as if they could run away with the match, and that pressure continued despite the loss of Paddy McCarthy to an early injury.<\/p>\n British and Irish Lions loosehead Andrew Porter was a handy sub to have \u2013 not only at the scrum where there was another penalty in the 54th minute, but also look at his penalty-winning poach at the early second-half ruck that Munster prop Michael Milne carried to.<\/p>\n Leinster, though, couldn\u2019t use this set-piece dominance to best effect, and it was significant that at a scrum with about 25 minutes to go that they were finally shunted backwards and Beirne came up with a treasured turnover near his own line.<\/p>\n