Munster A too strong for Leinster A at Thomond Park

Munster A beat Leinster A 26-22 in an entertaining contest at Thomond Park this afternoon – outscoring their rivals four tries to three.

Alex McHenry got the scoring underway in the 20th minute with a superb break from the Leinster 10 metre line.

He shrugged off a couple of tackles, before showing serious speed to score in the left corner. Bill Johnston then added a superb touchline conversion to put Munster 7-0 up.

Leinster responded with a Harry Byrne penalty but Munster grabbed a second try before half time.

Neil Cronin sniped down the blindside and sped away from a few would be Leinster tacklers to score a sensational try. Johnston nailed the extras to stretch Munster’s lead to 14-3 at the break.

Calvin Nash went in for Munster’s third try 10 minutes into the second half after slick hands in midfield. Half time substitute, Ian Keatley, made no mistake with the conversion.

Leinster came back into the game with tries from Scott Penny and Daniel Sheehan but an Eoin O’Connor score saw Munster take control once more.

The away side scored the last try of the game through Rob Russell but Munster held on for the 26-22 win.

Munster: Alex Wootton; Calvin Nash, Matt More, Alex McHenry, Ronan O’Mahony; Bill Johnston, Neil Cronin; Liam O’Connor, Kevin O’Byrne, Ciaran Parker; Sean O’Connor, Darren O’Shea; David Hyland, Conor Oliver, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Mike Sherry, Shane O’Hanlon, Keynan Knox, Eoin O’Connor, John Hodnett, Jack Stafford, Ian Keatley, Liam Coombes.

Leinster: Rob Russell; Gavin Mullin, Jimmy O’Brien, David Hawkshaw, Tommy O’Brien; Harry Byrne, Patrick Patterson; Peter Dooley, Ronan Kelleher (C), Vakh Abdaladze; Oisín Dowling, Josh Murphy; Martin Moloney, Scott Penny, Ronan Watters.

Replacements: Daniel Sheehan, Michael Milne, Jack Aungier, Brian Deeney, Cian Prendergast, Cormac Foley, Liam Turner, Hugo Conway.

Referee: Stuart Gaffikin (Ulster)