Oct 13,2024
Just as they did against Northampton Saints on their previous visit to Croke Park in May, Leinster came out hot at GAA HQ.
James Lowe scored two tries in 11 minutes in the Champions Cup semi-final win against the Saints, and it was even better tonight against Munster, with three tries in 14 minutes seeing them run out to a 21-0 lead.
Unlike that game against Northampton, they saw out this assignment without any real scare. While Munster outscored them 12-5 in the final 65 minutes, the damage had been done, and Graham Rowntree's side never got back within two scores of their hosts.
The reason they never got back within reach was a relentless Leinster defence, which now looks fully bedded in after a full pre-season with senior coach Jacques Nienaber.
With Jamie Osborne and Caelan Doris leading the way, the province were tireless without the ball, something that pleased head coach Leo Cullen just as much as their three-try start.
"The intent was good," Cullen said of their defensive efforts.
"You're seeing people working hard and you might get breached every now and again.
"But there's always a bit of risk-reward isn't there? And guys are being nice and aggressive, which is what we want.
"Overall, we're really pleased. You get five points and making sure that the opposition don’t get anything, which is really important in the whole scheme of the league.
"We don’t lose sight. It’s a league game. What do you want out of a league game? Get five points. Deny the opposition getting anything in the game and that’s what we’ve managed to do so that’s a success on that front."
The Leinster coach added that while his players knew the importance of the occasion in front of 80,468 people at Croke Park, they’re mindful there’s still a lot of rugby to be played this season."
"It's so special, isn't it? Even just the drive into the stadium across town, it's magic.
"We feel so lucky, from the player's point of view, to be able to perform here.
"A lot of Munster fans in the ground and they made a lot of noise over the course of the warm-up and it just adds to the occasion. It's a very, very special occasion, but it's round four now and it's [time to] turn the page quite quickly," added Cullen (below), whose side have picked up maximum points from their opening four games.
Meanwhile, Munster coach Graham Rowntree was left to rue the "chaos" of the opening quarter, as they failed to match the intensity of their opponents, who blitzed them with three tries.
A contributing factor was the constant reshuffling Rowntree was forced into, with Diarmuid Barron replacing Niall Scannell for a head injury assessment, before he too departed the game for a HIA, with the pair being two of five HIAs combined between the sides.
"It certainly wasn't our best 20 minutes that I've seen against Leinster. It was chaos," said the Munster coach, who had to come down from the coaching box to pitch level during that period to help manage the flurry of substitutions.
"A double HIA, we didn't have a hooker on the pitch at one point, trying to get 15 players on the field. Jeremy Loughman got a blood injury as well.
"They sensed we were a bit disjointed and got the ball to the edge of the field and took their opportunities.
"As a headline to the game, from us, it wasn't a lack of effort. We just have to get better at taking opportunities. They had minimal opportunities, but took them all. They're a dangerous team like that."
While the Munster coach hinted at some frustration around the early-whistling of a potential Calvin Nash try in the opening half, he was more critical of his side’s struggle to convert the many chances they got.
While their attacking game stretched Leinster at times and secured a lot of linebreaks, they consistently found themselves snuffed out by a relentless home defence.
"I thought we had opportunities. We showed we could attack, we stuck to our plan - we had a good plan tonight.
"We had our chances late on in the game, Nanks [Alex Nankivell] could have put Tom Ahern away late on in the game. We didn't stop playing. Fitness is good, but we've got to nail those opportunities.
"There were a couple of occasions where we were late getting to the breakdown, our lineout had a few challenges tonight against a very good lineout defence.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. I never have done, but I'm not one for panic either. Our effort was huge tonight, we've got to be more accurate," added Rowntree, whose side now travel to South Africa for a two-game tour where they face the Stormers and Sharks.
