LEINSTER – 30
MUNSTER – 22
A few words of appreciation for James Lowe… what a bloody finisher!
Leinster continued their recent dominance over Munster with a victory at the Aviva Stadium made comfortable by a match-defining and farcical call by referee Ben Whitehouse.
With the score 20-12 to Leinster, early in the second half, Whitehouse deemed a legitimate Sammy Arnold tackle to be a deliberate knock-on.
The ball had been knocked loose by Arnold’s tackle on Robbie Henshaw and Keith Earls ran 70 metres for what he believed was a try to get his team right back into the match. Instead, Whitehouse called play back and awarded Leinster what was, to our mind, an outrageously soft penalty.
Leinster kicked for touch and, within 60 seconds, James Lowe was spectacularly dotting down in the corner. Byrne nailed his conversion and instead of it being 20-19, Leinster led 27-22.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BomgjKMFJD4/?hl=en&taken-by=sportsjoedotie
The match had started with Munster going close up the blue side of the pitch before falling 14-0 behind. Keith Earls gave away a penalty try and was yellow carded – correctly – for hauling down Lowe from behind as he was about to score.
Lowe then got over for one of his own and Leinster looked to be cruising. That was until first Tadhg Beirne then CJ Stander powered over after respective maul and scrum set-plays.
14-12 (Joey Carbery missed a conversion) became 20-12, to Leinster, as Byrne knocked over two penalties before the half-time whistle sounded.
Munster head coach Johann van Graan would have told his men the next score would be their’s and that they would be right back in the contest.
The next score should have been but Whitehouse made a big call and the game turned on its’ head. There was some contention, in the stands, that the call may have been for offside but ‘deliberate knock-on’ was the decision.
The watching Munster fans, and many neutrals, could not believe the call:
@WelshRugbyUnion that referee you provided today for the Munster v Leinster game is an absolute disgrace. Appalling.
— John Honohan (@JohnHonohan) October 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/tomquinny2/status/1048643104092381184
Impossible for Munster to beat 17blue shirts. I am including the referee and linesman.
— Thomas Cumiskey (@tommy_cumiskey) October 6, 2018
This referee is costing Munster the game #leinstervsmunster
— gmacca (@thegmacca) October 6, 2018
Munster would have been forgiven for thinking it was not going to be their night but on they pressed. Carbery kicked a 46-metre penalty and, after relentless scrum pressure and a close-call out wide for Andrew Conway, scrum-half Alby Mathewson jinked over for a converted try.
Leinster were awarded a penalty within seconds of that re-start and Byrne, in his final act of a solid personal performance, kicked a penalty to make it 30-22.
That was as close as Munster got as Leinster hogged the ball and saw out yet another victory.
OUR MAN OF THE MATCH: James Ryan (Leinster)
