Munster walking on thin ice as Leinster close in on semis

By dint of completing their first Guinness Pro12 double over Munster since the 2012-13 season, not alone do Leinster retain the bragging rights and return to the top of the table, but they left themselves and Munster with starkly contrasting agendas for the taut three-game run-in. Leinster are masters of their own destiny, Munster decidedly less so.

For Leinster, two wins from a run-in of Edinburgh at home, Ulster away and Treviso at home ought to be sufficient to earn a home semi-final. But in letting slip an eminently winnable game, and certainly one they could have drawn, Munster are left looking over their shoulders.

"It is nice to win games, you don't need to rely on other results," said Leo Cullen, who said Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald should return in two weeks' time. "It can be very distracting when you start thinking, 'oh, what's happening in other games around the place', so it is nice to just get into focus where we just need to focus on winning games and doing what is required to win games, like not worrying about bonus points or anything like that. So that is a reasonably nice place to be, but that can unravel quite quickly if we lose sight of what's important in our next game, and not just on what's further down the track."

Mindset

Munster's greater desperation for league points perhaps contributed to the mindset that saw David Kilcoyne tap a penalty close to the line with the game's last play and a draw in the offing.

"I'd have taken a draw but I'd have also taken a win as well," said Anthony Foley. "It's hard to have to take the loss to be honest, but you trust players out on the pitch to make decisions, you back them, then you review them and then you look at what we can do better. There'll be a few clips around that but there was a lot of good out there as well. To come up to Dublin and nearly win the game, going away after the game we would have been very pleased but unfortunately it didn't happen."

The Scarlets’ surprise defeat at home to Cardiff on Saturday was a boost for both Leinster’s hopes of a home semi-final and Munster’s playoff hopes. Aside from going above Connacht, Leinster are now five points ahead of the Scarlets in the pursuit of a home semi-final, while Munster at least still have the Scarlets within five points.

Cardiff’s win also underlined the competitiveness of the league and the scramble for a top-six place, with Munster now the hare in sixth place and only one point clear of Edinburgh, whom Munster host in their penultimate game.

Munster now have a week to regroup before facing Connacht away on Saturday week, with the latter the only Irish team involved in European action next weekend when they face Grenoble away on Saturday night in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals. “We’ve got to win our next game,” said Foley.

“That’s the most important thing and it’s going to be a tough game in Galway, we know that. I don’t think anyone would be fooled if I said otherwise. We need to get back on track and win again.”

The Munster coach implied that Ian Keatley’s familiarity with the Sportsground could see him recalled. In any event, utilising the fear of missing out on the Champions Cup next season by not finishing in the top six could, Foley admitted, be a double-edged sword.

Throats

“You can’t really hit them with the same stick over and over. I think they’re getting that from everywhere.

“Where we need to be is playing the game and making sure we’re winning the game, and putting a knife to people’s throats isn’t going to help the cause.

“What will help the cause is us being better at what we’re doing, and we weren’t a million miles away today, and it’s about making sure that the next time we tog out that we’re up there.”