Classy Munster give Leinster Magners blues

THE first 20 minutes of this high voltage Magners League derby in Thomond Park Stadium in Limerick on Saturday night saw Leinster dominate but fail to put a score on the board.

Filipe Contemponi should have given his side the lead in the first minute but pulled his penalty chance wide of the post after Donnacha O'Callaghan was penalised for not rolling away at a ruck.

Breaks by Mafi, Earls and Horan set up Munster's first serious attack and when the penalty was awarded, Ronan O'Gara kicked his side into the lead.

On 25 minutes it was 6-0 to the home side. Munster had upped the tempo of their attack with sniping breaks from Howlett (twice), Quinlan and Mafi. Leinster were pinged for offside and O'Gara banged over the penalty.

A scything tacking tackle by Mafi on Contemponi set the trend of the second half. The outstanding Tomas O'Leary made an incisive break to force the penalty and O'Gara's boot increased the lead to 9-0.

The next score was classic Munster. O'Gara pumped a penalty into the 22, O'Connell rose majestically to tap it back to O'Leary and O'Gara popped over the perfect drop goal. 12-0 and Munster's job was almost complete.

Contempomi was wide with a brace of penalty chances that could have got his side back into the game but on 62 minutes came the first of Munster's two late tries. Niall Ronan brilliantly off-loaded to Keith Early in the tackle. The centre had an acre of space to make up but two hand-offs from weak tackles by Kearney and Horgan saw the former Thomond boy race over for a brilliant individual try that gave the home province a 17-0 lead.

Good covering by O'Leary and the tackle of the season by Stringer on Rocky Elsom kept the home try line intact but under severe pressure the Munster line was eventually breached. Shane Horgan fed Gordon D'Arcy for Leinster's only score which Contepomi failed to convert.

Munster had the final say. Barry Murphy showed his skill by breaking into space close to the touchline, twice he deceived the defence with feinted passes before placing replacement hooker Denis Fogarty for Munster's second try and a 22-5 victory.

With just one away league fixture remaining, against Cardiff in the Arms Park, Munster are still on target for the elusive Magners League and Heineken Cup double.

Munster: Warwick; Howlett, Mafi, Earls, Dowling; O'Gara,O'Leary; Horan, Flannery, Hayes; O'Callaghan, O'Connell; Quinlan, Ronan, Wallace. Replacements: Murphy for Dowling 66, d Hurley for O'Gara 76, Stringer for O'Leary 66, Fogarty for Flannery 78), Buckley for Hayes 67,Hayes for Buckley 73, O'Driscoll for O'Callaghan 76, Ryan for Ronan 66.

Leinster: Dempsey; Nacewa, D'Arcy, Horgan; Contepomi, Whitaker; Healy, Jackman, Wright; Cullen, O'Kelly; Elsom, Jennings, Heaslip. Replacements: Sexton for Dempsey 50, Keogh for Horgan 77, McCormack for Healy 64, Fogarty for Jackman 25, Hogan for O'Kelly 64, O'Brien for Jennings 67.

Referee, C Berdos, France.