On a frosty Saturday afternoon in Donnybrook Leinster and Munster came head to head in the final round of the women’s interprovincial series with the visitors claiming a deserved 21-3 victory…
Munster dominated the first half particularly in the line outs and rucks and put Leinster’s defence under pressure. This resulted in numerous penalties being awarded to Munster which fell just short of the posts. The Munster pack, were encamped on the Leinster line and the pressure finally told when they scored their first try.
Again Niamh Briggs fell just short of the posts on her conversion. Gill Nolan made an impressive break into the Munster 22, unfortunately after that again Munster dominated territory and finally breached the Leinster line again to score the second try scored Helen Brosnan again the conversion was missed.
After the restart Leinster hit back and secured ground in the Munster 22 which forced a penalty which was successfully kicked by Nora Stapleton. At half time it was 10 – 3 to Munster.
Within in minutes of the start of the second half, Laura Guest scored Munster’s third and killer try, again the conversion was missed. Leinster restarted with plenty of spirit and created some opportunities and line breaks in the second half which they just failed to capitalise on due to handling errors and unforced errors. Munster put Leinster under pressure in the final quarter which resulted in 2 penalties which Niamh Briggs put away to make the final score 21 -3 to Munster.
Congratulations are due to Munster on a well deserved fifth in row Women’s Interprovincial title. Leinster should take some heart for the way that they played all season and on their capping of 12 new players this season which bodes well for the future of Leinster Women’s Rugby.
