The build up was fantastic. It was going to be the largest attendance in the world for a club match. Tickets were hard to get - though thanks to bring a Leinster season ticket holder I had 12. There was no real problem getting rid of them Katy Mark Lisa and Dave were all on the Hill while Mags myself and Senan were in the Davin Stand or Canal End.
We went for a drink in a packed pub just at the top of Jones Road. We accidentally ran into Seany and Mairead. Seany had a veterans Munster supporters shirt - the one with Bank of Ireland on it. Seany was at the Munster All Blacks match back in 1978. We talked about our plans for going to the final. I called the match a 5 point victory for Munster - Seany thought it would be 10. We both agreed it was a cup match and anything could happen, but not with any great conviction! Contepomi's lack of form against Munster was hard to credit. Someone said something about how hard it was to get 3 victories in a row.
Munster Leinster Match History Professional Era, Uploaded by M+MD.
We got to Croke Park about an hour before kick off. The Red outnumbered the Blue though as kick-off approached it evened up. I would say it was 50000 Munster to 30000 Leinster. We had great seats in the eleventh row from the from in the lower stand. Munster were warming up down our end.
The roars for both teams were huge when they took the field at 5.25. Munster kicked off playing towards the Hill. Contepomi took that ball and laid down a marker from the kick-off. He went straight through RoG and certainly made a statement. The early play went over and back with a lot of intensity. Leinster got a long range penalty shot which Felipe missed. Then we had a period of strong Leinster attack. Elstrom was very strong taking the ball into contact and Nacewa seemed to be everywhere. 20 minutes in Contepomi took a drop at goal and the lead 0-3. Almost immediately Munster had a penalty and Ronan pulled it back to 3-3.
Necewa makes a break, Uploaded by M+MD.
Then Leinster went on the attack again. Contepomi was in the thick of it. But hour twisted his knee and Johnny Sexton was brought on as a replacement. His very first touch was to take a penalty. Which he slotted over making it 3-6. The Leinster crowd were wild but it didn't seem like a huge problem to Munster fans. But Leinster kept on the pressure continuing to play down into our stand. Finally they got the breakthrough with s great run by Necewa who offloaded to D'Arcy and although Earls catch him about 3 metres short of the line, D'Arcy's momentum carried him over in the corner for a try. Sexton missed the conversion, 3-11. I still wasn't worried - Munster know how to grind out a win - but this was a very powerful Leinster performance so far. RoG kicked a penalty before half time to calm our nerves - 6-11.
Leinster Attack, Uploaded by M+MD.
However it didn't last long! Just after the second half started a great back line movement with 2 long passes and a wonderful fingertip offload by Horgan to Fitzgerald, followed by a sublime sidestep and Luke scored a great try down at the other corner - oh my god, Sexton converted - 6-18.
Munster started a long period of sustained pressure on the Leinster line. Wave after wave of red headed in our direction. But the Leinster defence held out everytime. That hard game against Quins was now looking better and better. The defence was awesome to watch. The commitment from Leinster was translating into frustration from Munster. They continued to attack but there was no way through. Then 20 minutes into the second half came the hammer blow.
O'Gara took a long time to flip a long pass - O'Driscoll saw it coming and intercepted cleanly and the ran 75 metres with O'Gara and Howlett in pursuit - but he was never going to be caught and he scored under the posts. An easy conversion to make it 6-25. The game finished out down our end - the best we could hope for was a consolation try but even that was not permitted by the Leinster defence.
O'Connell and Quinlan Charge, Uploaded by M+MD.
It was a great occasion and a famous Leinster victory. I will be at the Final again this year but wearing something borrowed something blue unfortunately not red!
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