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23rd May 2022
06:22pm BST

Leinster players, from left, Rhys Ruddock, Dave Kearney, Ross Byrne, Jimmy O'Brien, Andrew Porter and Rónan Kelleher watch the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at the Aviva Stadium. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"They were all looking at each other, like, 'Who's going to take the ball here?' Conor Murray was taking two and three seconds at the ruck, looking for options then shipping it off to someone like Jeremy Loughman. Now, he's class but that's not creative. "Whereas Leinster are just steaming around the corner. They have their systems and they know what they're doing, and this was their second-string team. They were throwing balls on the ground. One moment that epitomised it was Keith Earls just throwing a pass straight to the ground... "At one stage, the whole Munster team, all 15 players, were on the one side of the pitch. As a system, in a professional team, that never happens. That doesn't happen in schools rugby! I was thinking, there's something going on here. No-one is taking the bull by the horns."Former Leinster and Ireland star Lindsay Peat was anticipating a much closer game, on Saturday, especially when Munster were still in with a chance of securing home knock-out rugby games. "Without being offensive or digging the knife in here, but do you think it's psychological with Leinster and Munster?" she asked.
"I think it's a bigger problem," Jason Hennessy replied. "Yes, there is something there with Leinster because it has been so long and the don't get many results off them, any more. The issue, I think, is that Johann Van Graan's head is in Bath, and it has been for many months."Hennessy feels Munster do have a chance of repeating their regular season dose, at Kingspan Stadium, and beating Ulster in the quarter finals. "But, I don't think they've a chance of winning the URC, if I'm honest with you," he conceded. As much as Hennessy may point to the departing head coach van Graan as the main issue, Leinster do remain the big, bad spectre. The team's younger players need to take it to Leinster in a big game, with big stakes, soon or face more seasons in their rival's shadow.
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