Too powerful, too clinical, and too much depth. Munster were no match for Leinster at Thomond Park, as the league leaders maintained their dominant start to the BKT United Rugby Championship with a 28-7 win.

Leo Cullen’s side have now reached the midway stage of the regular season with a perfect nine wins from nine matches, as their defence once again squeezed out an opposition that tried in vain to find a way over and around Jacques Nienaber’s impressive front line.

Leinster spent a good chunk of this game without the ball, but were clinical with the chances they got. Luke McGrath, Sam Prendergast and Josh van der Flier crossed for tries inside the opening 50 minutes, with McGrath and Van der Flier both taking advantage of some sleepy defending by Munster at the fringe of the ruck.

Prendergast converted those three, while his try made it 14-0 to the visitors before the break, and although Munster started the second half brightly with a Tom Ahern try, Ian Costello’s side never looked like pulling off a second comeback win in a row, with Caelan Doris hammering over the line to bring up the bonus-point on 73 minutes.

While Munster did their best to front up against a loaded Leinster squad, familiar issues were at play throughout the game, with an inconsistent lineout attack and scrum 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing a number of promising opportunities.

Two of those opportunities came in the opening 15 minutes, as they failed to fire in the Leinster 22.

The first of those instances was just two minutes in, when a throw to the tail went over the back, before a second great opportunity was spurned on 13 minutes, when Jack Boyle and Caelan Doris got in to spoil the maul, after Gavin Coombes had taken the clean lineout ball.

In between those two missed chances, Leinster struck for the opening try. After kicking a scrum penalty to the corner, the visitors moved infield with a series of short phases, before McGrath spotted the defence overcommitting on the openside and sniped down the blind channel to dive over and score, with Prendergast converting to make it 7-0.

Munster’s strategy in the opening quarter saw them kick a lot of ball deep down the pitch, and it was a strategy that was working, leading to Niall Scannell winning a penalty on 18 minutes, which Munster again sent to the corner.

This time they executed at the lineout, as Leinster coughed up three more penalties in quick succession, the last of which saw Tommy O’Brien sent to the sin-bin on 21 minutes (below). Ultimately, the home side would come away from the attack empty-handed, after Garry Ringrose held Tadhg Beirne up over the line.

Leo Cullen went to his bench early, summoning Andrew Porter for Boyle in what looked like a pre-ordained move, and he preceded to make an instant impact at the scrum, winning two penalties off Oli Jager, even if they looked to be fortunate decisions.

The second of those came five metres out from the Munster line, after Ethan Coughlan had been tackled back over his own line by Rónan Kelleher, and it led to Leinster’s second try on 32 minutes.

Having won the scrum penalty, the visitors chose to tap-and-go with their forwards, and while Munster held them out initially, their defence had been sucked in, and one wide pass to Prendergast was enough for the out-half to skip in between two defenders to score, converting his own try to make it 14-0, as Leinster brought a comfortable lead into the half time break.

Needing a fast start to the second half, Munster got it right after the break when Jager won a big scrum penalty, as two more quick penalties followed against the visitors as they aggressively contested for the ball in their own 22.

When a third penalty advantage came their way, Munster spread their bodies wide down the blindside channel, and quick passes from Coughlan and John Hodnett found Ahern (below), who needed every inch of his 6ft 9in frame to reach out and ground the ball for Munster’s opening try, which Burns converted to make it 14-7, with 45 minutes on the clock.

It wasn’t long before Leinster restored their two-score buffer. It started on 51 minutes when a powerful scrum sent Munster backwards, and Van der Flier pounced on Paddy Patterson to win a penalty.

After kicking to the 22, Henshaw made ground with a big carry, before further phases infield saw Munster leave more gaps at the fringe of the ruck, which Van der Flier strolled through to score his side’s third try, which Prendergast converted for 21-7.

Heading into the final quarter, it was clear Leinster’s eyes were on a bonus-point try, and they missed a great opportunity to claim it on 67 minutes when Ross Byrne turned down a shot at goal in favour of going for the corner, but missed the touchline with his kick.

They were in complete control by now though, with their squad depth starting to show. Seven minutes from time they got their bonus-point score, Doris charging over the line on the second phase of a five-metre penalty, which Byrne converted to make it 28-7 and make sure of the result.

There was still time for them to try run up the score even further, but Lee Barron’s late effort was held up over the line, the only real blemish on another impressive win for province, who are now unbeaten in Limerick since 2018.

Munster scorers: Tries: Tom Ahern

Cons: Billy Burns

Leinster scorers: Tries: Luke McGrath, Sam Prendergast, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris

Cons: Sam Prendergast (3), Ross Byrne (1)

Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Rory Scannell, Shane Daly; Billy Burns, Ethan Coughlan; Dian Bleuler, Niall Scannell, Oli Jager; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Eoghan Clarke (for N Scannell, 22-35 HIA and 73), Kieran Ryan (for Bleuler, 73), John Ryan (for Jager, 54), Brian Gleeson (for Kendellen, 65), John Hodnett (for Wycherley, 40), Paddy Patterson (for Coughlan, 50), Tony Butler (for Burns, 65), Ben O’Connor.

Leinster: Jamie Os𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧e; Tommy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O’Brien; Sam Prendergast, Luke McGrath; Jack Boyle, Rónan Kelleher, Rabah Slimani; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt)

Replacements: Lee Barron (for Kelleher, 63), Andrew Porter (for Boyle, 22), Cian Healy (for Slimani, 51), Brian Deeny (for Ryan, 74), Scott Penny (73), Fintan Gunne (for McGrath, 51), Ross Byrne (for Prendergast, 63), Jordan Larmour (for Ringrose, 73)

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)