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On the face of it Saturday evenings game at the Aviva is just another in a long line of defeats to Leinster and a case of history repeating itself but if you scratch under the surface you can see the changes that will give Munster fans hope.
Saturdays game couldn't have started much worse for Munster. I've been banging the drum for a long while now that Munster must have more impact heavy carriers in the team and specifically in the tight five. Before kick off they lost James Cronin and then within seven minutes they lost Dave Kilcoyne and RG Snyman.
How bad these injuries are may well decide how much of a challenge Munster can make in both the Pro14 and even in Europe next season. No one is doubting how good the tight five players are but what we've seen over the last few years is that unless we add physicality and carriers who can consistently provide impact with ball in hand then we can't compete with the top sides. With Killer and RG potentially missing for the rest of the Pro14 Munster don't have one single player in the tight five who can consistently provide front foot ball against defenses that are organised and set. Defenses can now identifying our limited big ball carriers, CJ/De Allende/Farrell etc and double team them. Having even two more of these type of players would create so much more opportunity and space the attack.
So back to look for the positives. Munster lost three (Cronin, Killer and RG) of the starting front five within 7 mins and yet still took the game to Leinster up front.
Conways first try was a direct result of Munster pounding away at the Leinster line until the defense gave away pens and couldn't reset in time and Munster walked it in through the space created. Munster started it from a 5m lineout using a 6+1 lineout, using TOD as the scrum half and throwing to POM at the front without him even having to jump. Leinster sack the maul early and force Munster to re-adjust their attack. Munster pounded the line using pods of CJ & Kleyn and Archer & Holland in tight as well as using the individual power of Farrell and De Allende slightly wider. They also used Niall Scannell put with TOD and Loughman as latches. POM was used in an attacking pattern similar to how we've seen Toner for Leinster. For a lot of that pressure he didn't seem to have a defined pod to work with and his role was as a "jockey". He follows the ball and moves directly behind the pod with the ball. He is required to read the play and only enter the breakdown when it requires an extra cleaner, the ball isn't secured or he feels the threat may come from a Leinster jackal.
Munster continued to go round the corner to challenge the Leinster defense and they seemed to be doing this at a decent pace. They were able to recycle and move the ball quick enough that the Leinster wall wasn't sitting waiting and lining them up. Munster didn't lack for physicality and despite Leinster's best efforts, Munster's work rate, for 15 plus phases, forced the penalty advantage and they walked the ball in through JJ for Conway to dot it down.
Leinster's reply was down to some silly and soft penalties from Munster that gave Leinster field position deep in the Munster 22. Leinster went to a maul off a lineout and when Lowe and Henshaw joined Munster couldn't stop them driving over. The second try conceded just before half time was again off a lineout deep in the Munster 22. This time Munster stopped the maul but Leinster continued to batter the line and Ringrose touched down a lovely Henshaw grubber through the defensive line.
Munster ran some nice patterns in attack especially off set piece. De Allende in particular was brilliant without ball in hand. His decoy running was so good that even when he wasn't getting the ball he wasa attracting double team tacklers to him and I think that allowed Farrell more space and freedom to show what he can do. Munster were willing to go from touchline to touchline to drag the Leinster defense around but time and time again it seemed to breakdown when some of the forwards were asked to handle the ball, knock ons and being stripped in contact blunted Munsters attacking momentum.
Leinster scored their third try from a scrum inside their own half and when Andrew Brace does his review of the game it won't be pretty. Leinster identified an overlap on their left side and while Murray and POM were able to cover the initial phase. As Murray made the cover tackle, Kleyn and POM countered looking to jackal. Henshaw fails to enter square to the breakdown and cleans POM on the left hand side while both Conan and van der Flier come in at 45 degree angles to shift Kleyn out of the way. Brace is looking at this from only a few yards away and directly behind the breakdown so he has little excuse. Leinster reset quickly and stacked the shortside to create a 5 v 3. Lowe stays wide on the touchline while McGrath breaks down the side and draws De Allende in to the tackle. Farrell takes his man in Sexton but that leaves Conway with both Baird and Lowe to cover. Conway steps in to block the pass from Sexton but he can't get it and Leinster now have two men away down the tramlines with only Daly trying to cover across to stop the try. Baird draws the man but the pass is clearly forward and none of Brace, Clancy or the TMO can pick up the Baird passing one side of the 10m line and Lowe receiving the ball the other side of it.
Overall my impressions of the reffing team was that they were just inconsistent and they certainly weren't as strict on the new interpretations as we were led to believe. This can be seen through the reffing of things like the side entry at breakdown as well the overall penalty count which was very low compared to games in the Gallagher Premiership for example. Some of this can be down to the "Nigel" effect of wanting the game to flow as well as the fact this is the first game back for the reffing team as well. Munster can be pleased with their discipline as they only conceded 8 pens all game versus 14 for Leinster.
Munsters comeback was due to the amount of pressure that they put on Leinster especially through the lineout. Toner's yellow card was a team offense for racking the penalties and yet again at the lineout. Munster continued, correctly, with the low risk, short passing, heavy pods but made little impact understandably with Kleyn now off and Rory Scannell playing flanker for the last 20 mins. However they did manage to generate quick ball and JJ's nice step and good hands gave Earls a half chance in the corner which he took so well.
For Munsters last try you can see the impact Casey had off the bench. Leinster were down a man but still his pace, organisation and range of passing was superb. Munster at this point were recycling the ball very quickly. They weren't having to commit extra men to the breakdown and started posing Leinster all sorts of problems. They caught the Leinster defense very narrow inside their 22 and Farrell ran a lovely inside line off a Casey pass from the breakdown. His line forced both Cronin and Doris to stop their drift and as they became flat footed Farrell popped the ball back to JJ who had come round on a loop. JJ's line led to Gibson-Park biting in and leaving Lowe exposed. Daly ran the support line and gave Conway the opportunity. Conway stepped Lowe quite easily inside and beat the cover tackles from Cronin and Doris to score close to the corner. The kick from JJ was close but not close enough.
In the end the early loss of Cronin, Killer Snyman as well as losing a second lock in Kleyn proved too much but the signs were there. This wasn't your standard Pro14 Christmas game with internationals missing. This was as close as we could get to full sides going at each other and the physicality of it showed. Despite the injuries and rearrangement of the side to accommodate some of the replacements this showed how Munster are evolving. Their physicality matched Leinster's and even though they lost two of their most important carriers in the tight five so early they continued to make headway in tigh exchanges. I don't necessarily expect them to dominate the gainline with those carriers missing but they still found ways to recycle quickly and move the point of attack when they needed. The scrum was messy and Leinster probably had the advantage but what do you expect when you lose three front five players before 7 mins are on the clock and you have an outhalf/centre playing flanker for 20 plus minutes. Despite losing Snyman the lineout was a huge positive for Munster. Not only did they win 100% of their own ball, they put huge pressure on Leinster ball. Leinster only had a 72% success rate from touch and they also conceded a number of penalties including a yellow trying to stop Munsters dominance.
In the backs, the centre pairing of Farrell and De Allende looks to be one of huge potential. Both are huge physical specimens but have excellent passing games. De Allende was used a decoy on a number of occasions and he drew double teams creating space for those around him. Farrell took the opportunity of less focus on him defensively and used his size and skills to influence the game. He was never shy in being the extra heavy carrier when needed and he helped create a try directly for Conway with his straight running and excellent hands. De Allende seemed to know what this fixture was all about with his hit on Sexton to remind him he was up for the game and there was one clear out on Lowe in a ruck that can only be described as "melting" the Leinster player. Munster's wingers were as always dangerous but like I continue to say Munster have to scheme more ways to get Earls and Conway into space and one on one with their players. All three tries from the wingers might say they did that but when its so effective you just need to do it more. If you asked someone unfamiliar with the teams which of the full backs on show was the Irish international 15 i'm not sure many would have picked Jordan Larmour. Daly was excellent defensively, under the high ball and added to the play in attack. Not much more he could have done on the night.
I thought JJ was excellent as well. He controlled the game, made a few half breaks to keep the Leinster back row honest and the only kick he missed was from close to the touchline on the wrong side for a right sided kicker. Murray as well looked to finding form with good passing and excellent boxkicking which Larmour will still be having nightmares about. Casey when he came on sped up the game and his communication and range of passing was a joy to watch.
In the pack Loughman put in a huge shift for 70 plus mins. Archer and Ryan stepped up to the task well. Niall Scannell will be happy with his set piece but its his impact with ball in hand that he will disappointed with. If he wants to get back into the Ireland squad thats the one area he has to improve. Its hard to analyse the second rows due to the injuries. Snyman gone after 7 mins, Holland having to play a full 80 and Kleyn going off as well. Billy was once again a much needed leader on the pitch. He's like Gallimh in the old days, sometimes its hard to see what exactly he's doing but when he's not there you don't half miss him.
TOD had a decent game but he didn't influence the play in the same way that Baird or VDF did for Leinster. CJ on the other hand was unreal. He carried well and there seemed to be a distinct plan to run at Sexton all night which he, Farrell and De Allende did. Over the ball CJ was just unreal. He's probably better than any other Irish player other than Leavy at that right now.
Overall this will go down as loss but i do think it gives enough hope that Munster can compete and beat Leinster in a semi final showdown. That said it's injuries that will decide if Munster have a fighting chance and given my views on the tight five injuries to Killer, Snyman and Kleyn could change those odds.
Oh and one last thing on the crowd noise being overlayed onto the commentary feed......