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Leinster hold off Munster in dramatic semifinal

Meeting for the 154th time in their history, the two Irish provinces know each other inside out but few of those clashes will have been as dramatic as this semi-final at a raucous RDS Arena, where Leinster eventually emerged as 16-15 victors.

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The win looked in doubt when Gerbrandt Grobler’s 79th-minute try and Ian Keatley’s conversion reduced Munster’s deficit to a single point, before they found themselves deep in Leinster territory as the clock turned red, but the defence held firm and Max Deegan produced a vital turnover to seal it.

Just seven days after winning the European Rugby Champions Cup, Leo Cullen’s men were put through the wringer again as Keith Earls’ try early in the second half kept the visitors in touch.

But the boots of Ross Byrne and Joey Carbery gave them enough of a cushion to withstand Grobler’s late score and they will now have the opportunity to seal a European and domestic double for the first time in their history.

Leinster had played in eight previous semi-finals in Championship history, with their only defeat coming against reigning champions Scarlets last season, and will now have the opportunity to avenge that loss in next Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 final.

For Munster, it was a first league defeat since they visited Edinburgh on 16 March and although they came agonisingly close to winning their maiden away semi-final in the Championship at the fourth attempt, their wait for a first piece of silverware since 2011 goes on.

After grinding out a hard-fought 15-12 win over Racing 92 in Bilbao to lift the Champions Cup a week ago, Leo Cullen made six changes to his starting XV for the semi-final and two of the new faces combined in spectacular fashion for the opening try on seven minutes.

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New Zealand winger James Lowe produced a scintillating step in midfield to leave Simon Zebo for dead and breach Munster’s defensive line before offloading to Conan out the back of his hand while going to ground, enabling the No.8 to dive over.

Despite the early setback in their quest for just a second-ever victory at the RDS Arena – the first being an 18-0 triumph in September 2008 – Munster settled down and narrowed the gap to 7-3 with a JJ Hanrahan penalty, although that was cancelled out by a Byrne three-pointer shortly after.

And on 23 minutes, the hosts looked set to extend their advantage with a second try, only for Sammy Arnold to come up with a brilliant covering tackle.

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A set move from an attacking line-out saw Leinster spread the ball wide left, where Jordan Larmour released a charging Lowe towards the line, only for centre Arnold to get across, haul down the winger and drag him into touch metres from the line.

Hanrahan subsequently skewed a kickable penalty wide and Munster failed to narrow the 10-3 deficit before half-time, despite consistently knocking on the door in the home 22 – Christiaan Stander being held up over the line, the closest they came.

The visitors were also reduced to 14 men as Jean Kleyn was yellow carded for recklessly clearing out Byrne at a ruck while off his feet but Johan van der Graan’s men still reduced the gap to 10-8 early in the second half with a sumptuous try.

As the ball was spread left, Zebo – playing his last game in a Munster shirt – drew in two defenders and fired an overhand pass to release Earls, where the winger bumped off the first defender and burrowed through a second tackle to dot down in the corner for a 30th Guinness PRO14 try of his career.

A second Byrne penalty, after Keatley was caught offside from a box kick, gave Leinster a little more breathing room at 13-8 but both he and Carbery missed three pointers to extend the lead in the cross-wind as the game moved into the final quarter.

With four minutes left, Carbery appeared to seal it with a successful penalty to make the score 16-8 but Grobler touched down on the base of the post with less than two minutes left, as Keatley’s conversion brought them within a point.

Munster regained the kick-off and worked their way into Leinster territory in search of a dramatic, last-gasp score but Deegan force the turnover and a penalty as the visitors fell just short, sending the hosts to the Aviva Stadium in a week’s time.

The teams:

Leinster: 15 Joey Carbery, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Isa Nacewa (captain), 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 James Ryan, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Scott Fardy, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Rory O’Loughlin, 23 Barry Daly.

Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Keith Earls, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Jack O’Donoghue, 6 Peter O’Mahony (captain), 5 Billy Holland, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 James Cronin.

Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Darren Sweetnam.

Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Mike Adamson (Scotland)

TMO: Neil Paterson (Scotland)

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