8:45 pm By The Editor

Munster fell marginally short against Leinster in the Guinness PRO14 at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening.

Tadhg Beirne, CJ Stander and Alby Mathewson touched down for Munster with Joey Carbery kicking two conversions and a penalty but a quick-fire Leinster start helped the hosts to victory.

Munster made a decent start and an early drilled kick from Dan Goggin was well chased by Darren Sweetnam forcing a knock-on from Jamison Gibson-Park five metres out from the Leinster line.

The Munster scrum underlined its power early doors, but the hosts eventually relieved the pressure with a turnover.

Minutes later, Leinster broke free down the left wing through James Lowe, who found Dan Leavy on his shoulder. Leavy did well to draw a couple of defenders before throwing a return pass to Lowe.

The ball went forward but Earls was adjudged to have impeded the New Zealander before the ball reached him and the hosts were awarded a penalty try with the Munster winger sin-binned.

On 15 minutes, Lowe struck again. Ross Byrne found touch inside the Munster 22, the Leinster maul rumbled forward and with Lowe free on the left wing with Earls in the bin, the winger scored the Blues’ second try within a matter of minutes.

Munster’s reply was superb. Carbery found touch less than 10 metres out from the Leinster line, O’Mahony took the lineout well and an excellently organised maul eventually saw Beirne power his way over.

Carbery couldn’t convert from the touchline, but Munster were on the board and their tails were up. With 25 minutes on the clock, Munster made their way back deep down into Leinster territory. The impressive Dan Goggin powered his way towards the line only to be held up, but Johann van Graan’s men weren’t done.

From the resulting scrum, Stander picked from the base and made a trademark surge over the chalk to put Munster right back in the contest. Carbery converted this time to bring his side within two points at 14-12. Before the half was out however, Leinster added another six points as Ross Byrne knocked over two penalties from a similar position to punish some indiscipline from the visitors. It was an impressive, high-energy first 40 from Munster, but Leinster would lead 20-12 heading into the dressing rooms at half-time.

A minute into the second half, Earls burst clear down field, running end-to-end before play was called back for a deliberate knock-on from Sammy Arnold. Leinster knocked the ball into the corner in search of their third try of the evening and they would soon have it when Lowe extended Leo Cullen’s side’s lead on the 45th minute with an acrobatic finish tight to the touchline.

Byrne again converted to make it 27-12. Ten minutes later, Munster began to claw their way back into the game. A penalty ten metres inside the Leinster half was struck sweetly by Carbery to add another three points to Munster’s tally and on the hour mark, the 22-year-old kicked his side just shy of the Leinster try-line to set up a dangerous Munster lineout.

Munster pummeled the line relentlessly in what was always going to be a key stage of the game, eventually forcing Leinster into conceding a series of penalties. The men in red packed down for the scrum five metres out from Leinster’s posts and some great work from James Cronin forced opposite number Andrew Porter into conceding three consecutive penalties.

Having been told to use it on the fourth reset, scrum-half Mathewson darted to the left of the posts and nipped his way over for his first Munster try to keep the contest alive. Carbery converted to put Munster within five at 27-22, but the gap was soon extended back to eight points when Ross Byrne was awarded a penalty kick straight from the resulting kick off.

Munster unloaded the bench as they chased the game with ten minutes to go, but despite a valiant effort throughout the evening from the visitors, Leinster showed just why they’re PRO14 champions to see out an all-action contest at 30-22.

Guinness PRO14 Round Five Round-Up

Tadhg Beirne and Alby Mathewson scored their first tries for Munster.

Andrew Conway made his 100th appearance for Munster in the clash.

Alby Mathewson departed with a leg knock and will be assessed by the medical team.

Munster: Andrew Conway; Darren Sweetnam (JJ Hanrahan, 70), Sammy Arnold (Rory Scannell, 68), Dan Goggin, Keith Earls; Joey Carbery, Alby Mathewson (Duncan Williams, 74); Dave Kilcoyne (James Cronin, 53), Niall Scannell (Kevin O’Byrne, 74), Stephen Archer (Ciaran Parker, 74); Jean Kleyn (Billy Holland, 70), Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (C), Tommy O’Donnell (Chris Cloete, 47), CJ Stander.

Next Home Game

Champions Cup Round 2 | Munster v Gloucester, Thomond Park Saturday October 20th, 1pm.

Champions Cup rugby returns to Thomond Park in two weeks as Gloucester visit Limerick. Buy tickets here.