The Leinster Under-19s, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, completed the Interprovincial Championship with a second-half surge producing two tries from wings Peter Sullivan and Michael Silvester to overtake Munster at Anglesea Road on Saturday.
The feeling out process didn’t last long.
The first piece of tidy work had to be carried out by Leinster number eight Paddy Ryan, dealing with an awkward bounce from James Taylor’s angled kick.
The home side moved swiftly forward to draw a penalty for offside, dispatched by fly-half Josh Miller in the third minute.
Munster lock Sean English compounded this setback when rushing in on airborne Ryan to see yellow.
The interplay between backs, like Miller and centre Tim Murphy, and forwards, like prop Jack Aungier and lock Aaron Browne, was a treat to witness, although it did not always produce the gains necessary straight away.
Munster were trading on scraps, a Leinster midfield miscommunication handing them a scrum.
Centre David McCarthy took the ball into contact where the home side committed an offence punished by out-half Taylor for 3-all in the 13th minute.
The signs were positive for Leinster. They began to pull the boys in red out of position, Miller putting Murphy slicing through the middle.
All the pretty patterns they were weaving did not impress a no-nonsense Munster defence with Peter Sylvester to the fore.
There was a penalty for Miller to ponder and he was deadly accurate from the left for 6-3 in the 25th minute.
It was wiped away when indiscipline at the breakdown led to Taylor’s well-struck equaliser two minutes later.
The Leinster lineout and maul were stressing the visitors. They just couldn’t find the cutting edge in attack.
The inability to make better use of their possession came back to haunt them when Taylor nudged Munster 9-6 ahead on the half-time whistle.
On resumption, Munster rolled a maul for 20 metres only to fail to get the ball to floor for a frustrating turnover and flanker Sean Duffy broke the line for at least as long a gain before hooker Cathal Duff hauled him down.
The Munster scrum squeezed out a penalty. A rush of blood meant a guaranteed three points was sacrificed for a quick tap that ended with Leinster’s Silvester causing number eight Odhran Ring to knock-on.
It was a let-off Leinster almost turned into the maximum return when Silvester flew down the left and his chip was almost picked up by replacement Patrick Patterson with the line at his mercy.
The mistakes were mounting up as replacement Ruadhan McDonnell’s blockdown on scrum-half Joe Murphy and recovery on the floor deserved more than the spill that brought a dangerous attack to a halt.
The energy of Patterson was infectious, his quick tap and quicker feet taking Leinster forward. Captain Max Kearney straightened the attack and wing Peter Sullivan blasted aside three tacklers for a strong finish for Miller to make it 13-9 in the 55th minute.
Leinster broke down the right through Marc Baker and recycled for Silvester to cut back for a fine try. Miller kicked the extras to make it 20-9 on the hour.
It was give and take from there as scrum-half Hugh O’Sullivan kept Leinster in the right area until Munster broke away down the right to set up a lineout which they wasted through poor execution and, thereafter, Leinster’s suffocating defence.
“We are delighted with the win and the way we played,” said coach Morgan Lennon.
“We wanted to go out and win it playing the right kind of rugby against a team we lost to last season. I felt we failed the mental test in Gloucester in one of our pre-season matches. We failed the mental test in Ulster.”
“This time, we showed we learned. We went in front. But, we didn’t go into our shells. We kept playing positive rugby to get two tries in three minutes.”
At Anglesea Road: LEINSTER 20 (P Sullivan, M Silvester try each; J Miller 2 pens, 2 cons); MUNSTER 9 (J Taylor 3 pens).
LEINSTER: Peter Hastie (Wicklow RFC); Peter Sullivan (St Andrews College), Sean O’Brien (Mullingar RFC), Tim Murphy (Newbridge College), Michael Silvester (Clongowes Wood College); Josh Miller (Kilkenny College), Hugh O’Sullivan (Belvedere College); Eoghan Clarke (CBC Monkstown), Cathal Duff (Clongowes Wood College), Jack Aungier (St Fintans High School), Jack Dunne (St Michaels College), Aaron Browne (Cistercian College Roscrea), JJ O’Dea (Navan RFC), Max Kearney (Belvedere College) Captain, Paddy Ryan (Newbridge College).
Replacements: Patrick Patterson (Blackrock College) for Hastie ht; Stephen McLaughlin (Blackrock College) for Duff 40 mins; Ruadhan McDonnell (Longford RFC) for O’Dea 42 mins; Marc Baker (St Gerard’s School) for O’Brien 50 mins; Ronan Foley (St Mary’s College) for Ryan 56 mins; Evin Coyle (Gonzaga) for Aungier 62 mins; Sean Goodburn (King’s Hospital) for Clarke, Mark Fabian (Terenure College) for Miller both 65 mins.
MUNSTER: Sean Hudson (Bandon Grammar); Paul Buckley (PBC), David McCarthy (Skibbereen), Peter Sylvester (PBC), Liam Barrett (Bruff); James Taylor (CBC), Joe Murphy (Clongowes Wood College); James French (Bandon Grammar), Tadgh McCarthy (Bantry Bay), Bryan O’Connor (PBC), Conor O’Flynn (PBC) Captain, Sean English (Castletroy College), Sean Duffy (CBC), Jack Daly (Castleisland), Odhran Ring (Bruff).
Replacements: Fergus Hennessy (CBC) for Ring, Jack O’Shea (PBC) for Barrett both 52 mins; Richard Thompson (PBC) for O’Flynn 57 mins; Aaron Rice (St Munchin’s) for Murphy 60 mins; Billy Scannell (PBC) for McCarthy, Darragh O’Shea (Newcastle West) for French, Jack Mullany (Dungarvan) for O’Connor all 63 mins; Ben Healy (Glenstal Abbey) for Taylor 65 mins.
Referee: J Peak (IRFU).
