Munster vs Leinster | Munster seek to end miserable record against interpro rivals

Munster v Leinster is set to take place once again on Saturday night at 7 pm in the URC at Thomand Park.

This Interpro fixture has been long overdue, with the original fixture between the two sides due to take place on St Stephens day. The match was unfortunately cancelled due to Covid-19 related circumstances.

Leinster are currently the front runners in this years URC competition. They have accumulated 55 points so far this season. They currently have the most wins in the league with eleven and also have managed to bag themselves as many bonus points throughout the campaign.

The blues are brimming with talents from every position and look to make their final push of the season as all their international players are back, such as Johnny Sexton

Munster are currently third and are only three points off of second placed Ulster. With Munster failing to win either of their games down in South Africa it is very important for their season to come out of this clash with a favourable result.

Despite their South African set back, the red province looked to be in fine form before the Six Nations. Now that Johann Van Graan’s side is back to full strength you would expect them to really give Leinster a run for their money.

Munster vs Leinster is a long storied affair as the two sides have always vied for the title of Ireland’s best team. Leinster most recently have been the more dominant of the two. It is important however to look back at some of the previous fixtures these two sides have shared together. With that in mind it is time to look at five of the previous fixtures in this tie.

In 2018, Leinster had a slender 16-15 win in the RDS. They repeated this 12 months later with a 24-9 win the same venue. Rubbing salt in the wound’s Leinster never looked like losing in this fixture and sadly outclassed the Munster men.

Munster would get their own back in their next meeting however. The same season as their 24-9 loss they managed to defeat the blues with a huge effort. The final score was 26-17 in the men in red’s favour. This feat would be the last for quite a while however as Leinster would have an unrivalled period of dominance.

Munster played their neighbours three times in 19/20 and Leinster would take the victory in all of them. The first was a very low scoring game in Thomaod Park. Leinster outscored Munster with the score line reading 6-13 once the eighty minutes were up.

The next game between the old rivals was a close but very high scoring contest. Leinster narrowly came out as the victor 27-25. The game was full of high flying passes, line breaks, brilliant kicking and all the intensity you could ask for in an Interpro game.

As of last season these two teams met three times, Leinster claimed another victory in the League over their fiercest neighbours.

The game was extremely close but was a sloppy affair, it was full of knock on’s and scrummaging that never let the game get into a flying pace. Kicking was the order of the day as each side tried to keep their score board ticking. the final of score of the match was settled at 10-13 to the blues.

Leinster would go on to inflict a huge loss on Munster as the red men were defeated in the League Final. The loss also meant that Munster unfortunately lost to Leinster a record six times in a row which was a record for consecutive victories. Using this defeat as a motivator however, Munster would come back strong in their Rainbow Cup fixture against their neighbours and finally break the duck they have been under.

Smashing the opposition 27-3 Munster comprehensively announced themselves as capable of taking on Leinster once more.

With the previous fixture in mind Munster should be well able to put up the fight to Leinster, its just a matter of closing out the game for Johann Van Graan’s red men.

Saturday’s URC Interpro derby against Leinster takes place at Thomond Park at 7pm.