THE final scoreline, 16-6 to Leinster, said a lot about our dominance over Munster in recent times.
It was our fourth consecutive win over our deadly rivals and hopefully we are now considered the dominant team on this island.
I spent the first five years of my career in Connacht and during that period we never really believed we could beat Munster (in fact last year was the first time Connacht ever beat Munster).
Over the first four years of my Leinster career the battles between us used to be decided by whichever team had the most to lose or who had lost the previous encounter.
It’s testament to the current squad’s culture that we now treat Munster with respect but we believe if we prepare properly we will win.
Referee Nigel Owens played five minutes injury time in the first half and ten in the second but nobody was complaining as this was a very enjoyable match to watch.
The intensity and physicality lasted from the first minute to the 95th. Thankfully over the course of the match we won most of those collisions and dominated the set piece.
Our scrum came in for much-deserved criticism following the Toulouse defeat and as a pack we took the flak on the chin and made a vow that it would never happen to us again.
In both games since that Heineken cup exit we have demolished the Edinburgh and the Munster scrums. We were very comfortable on our own throw with John Fogarty again throwing very accurately and Malcolm O’Kelly, who replaced the injured Leo Cullen, having a stormer.
Munster lost five line outs over the course of the match, none of which were the fault of their hooker Damien Varley from what I could see.
Their miscommunication in that area was bewildering and something at odds with the team they used to be.
As good as our set piece was I must give mention to our defence. In the last five hours of rugby played between us Munster haven’t scored a try against us with our discipline being so good at the moment you are unlikely to be able to score enough points through penalties to beat us.
We only scored one try on the night but it was beautifully worked even though it was slightly illegal. It’s a wrap around move that our backs coach Alan Gaffney has been using for the last 20 years but it is incredibly difficult to defend against.
In fact Ireland scored a try against South Africa in November from the same play involving the same three players Johnny Sexton, Gordan d’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll.
Sexton passes to d’Arcy who fakes to pass to O’Driscoll on his outside but instead gives a no look pass to Sexton on the loop. The man marking O’Driscoll should drift on to Sexton but because O’Driscoll is such a threat they usually hold to try and tackle him and because Sexton has such speed they can’t make up the ground once he’s gone.
We now have a two-week break before the final in the RDS on 29 May and the management have given us off until Thursday of this week off.
As I am now retired I have just been doing weights with the injured players and will continue that for the next week and a half of the season.
When you aren’t in the match squad you always feel a little left out but I have to keep reminding myself that I have played in 85% of the matches this season and should we win the final that medal will be one I have earned too.
We have our annual Leinster awards night on Friday in the Burlington Hotel and the award for player of the season will be very competitive.
Jamie Heaslip has been nicknamed Rocky Elsom by the lads such is the rate he is picking up man of the match awards and he must be the favourite. He was so far ahead of everyone else on the pitch on Saturday that he looked like he was an 18-year-old playing u14s.
I should know what that was like as I came across a bit of it playing juvenile! For now it’s all guns blazing to the future and I hope we finish on a high.