Leinster Slay the Stags

By ethanjbradley · Dublin, Ireland

Leinster 24–18 Munster · URC · Aviva Stadium · 2026-10-24 · Player of the match: Jamison Gibson-Park

A cold, wet & windy evening - essentially, the holy trinity of Irish weather in autumn - beckoned for one rugby's biggest rivalries in Dublin on Saturday. Both teams arrived fresh after beating French opposition in the Champions Cup the previous weekend. Munster and their fans were in buoyant mood to claim another victory in the capital a year on from the madness in Croke Park - where Munster beat Leinster 14-31. The Leinster fans seemed to think a win for the boys in blue was already nailed on. This was going to be big.

Pre-match, a lot of the talk circulated around the following:

- The Battle of the 8s: Dan Sheehan vs Gavin Coombes
- The battle of the 10s: Joey Carbery vs Charlie O'Shea

The match started with Munster playing from left to right with a swirling breeze thanks to the remnants of Storm Austen. After 7mins, Munster got on the board with a penalty from Charlie O'Shea to land the first points of the match - 0-3 to the Stags. At 8mins, both sets of fans stood up and clapped in solidarity for Anthony 'Axel' Foley who passed away 10 years ago on the previous weekend. It was a very touching moment inside the stadium.

It seemed Munster were the only team on show in the first half as they were dominating the penalty count and were not giving Leinster an inch. At 27mins, the first try of the game went the Stags' way after a lovely backs move from a midfield ruck was finished by winger Shane Daly. O'Shea polished off with the extras and Munster were 0-10 on the board. Almost immediately after the restart, Leinster found themselves 0-13 down after a monster 52 metre penalty kick split the posts by O'Shea. Wake up Leinster.

Then, a moment of sheer magic came from the hands of Leinster scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park. At 34mins, Leinster had a 5 metre scrum with Gibson-Park picking from the base and running an attacking line with 3 possible passing options running hard lines outside him between the posts. Leinster winger Tommy O'Brien was lurking in the 15 metre channel on the wing with open country and no defender ahead of him. Gibson-Park was eagle-eyed to this space and fired what is known as a 'bridge pass' over the heads of his teammates out to Tommy O'Brien to score in the corner and finally get Leinster on the board. Carbery missed the conversion and shortly after both teams went into the sheds for half-time. 5-13 in favour of the Stags.

The second half was the complete opposite (and more!) to what panned out in the first half. Munster's discipline went out the window and after 55mins, Leinster's Ryan Baird scored from close range with Carbery slotting over the conversion. To add insult to injury, Munster's Alex Nankivell copped a 'slice of cheese' (yellow card) after repeated team infringements. 12-13 to Munster with over 25mins left and Munster down to 14 men, this was Leinster's time to turn the screw.

On 63mins, Gibson-Park found Charlie Tector for Leinster's 3rd try to make the game 17-13 (conversion missed) to Leinster. The game had a lengthy pause on the 70th minute after Munster winger Shane Daly received a knock and had to be carted off the pitch leaving many onlooking fans concerned. Afterwards, Gibson-Park ripped another one of his famous 'bridge passes' out to Jamie Osborne to score in the corner from the base of a ruck beside the left post on 73mins. This was try of the game and incredible vision again from the scrum-half. Carbery made the difficult conversion to make it 24-13 with the bonus point sealed and the end in sight for Leinster.

Munster managed to salvage a late losing bonus point after fullback Ben O'Connor scored in the corner on 82mins with Charlie O'Shea missing the first kick of his competitive professional rugby career after 5 games to end the game 24-18 to Leinster. These were Munster's only points of the half after not scoring since the 30th minute of the game. Conceding the try at the end would have been disappointing for Leinster head coach Leo Cullen but he'll be happy his team are back winning derbies in Dublin again.

Leinster & Ireland will be sweating over the adjudication of the URC's citing commissioner after prop Tadhg Furlong was deemed to have committed foul play on Munster's no. 8 Gavin Coombes in a ruck. In the URC, the citing commissioner has 50 hours after the end of a game to complete an investigation and submit a report. Leinster & Ireland will receive details of the outcome on Thursday 29 October where, if found guilty, Furlong could be out for a lengthy spell.

Shane Daly's injury and the allegation of foul play on Gavin Coombes were the only blotches of what was a fierce encounter between the two sides. After round 4, Leinster sit in 6th place on 13 points, with Munster in 9th on 10 points.

Round 5 is the last round of URC fixtures before the break for the Nations Championship internationals in November. Leinster travel to Connacht in the Dexcom Stadium on Friday 30th October and Munster host the Sharks in Thomond Park on Halloween. With a number of Leinster players in Ireland camp, this may be a big opportunity for a Connacht win in Galway.

Leinster:
1. Andrew Porter (Ireland Squad)
2. Ronan Kelleher (Ireland Squad)
3. Tadhg Furlong (Ireland Squad)
4. Joe McCarthy (Ireland Squad)
5. James Ryan (Ireland Squad)
6. Ryan Baird (Ireland Squad)
7. Josh Van Der Flier (Ireland Squad)
8. Dan Sheehan (C) (Ireland Squad)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland Squad)
10. Joey Carbery
11. Jimmy O'Brien (Ireland Squad)
12. Robbie Henshaw (Ireland Squad)
13. Jamie Osborne (Ireland Squad)
14. Tommy O'Brien (Ireland Squad)
15. Hugo Keenan (Ireland Squad)

Subs: 16. Gus McCarthy; 17. Alex Usanov; 18. Thomas Clarkson (Ireland Squad); 19. Conor O'Tighearnaigh; 20. Scott Penny; 21. Fintan Gunne; 22. Caspar Gabriel; 23. Charlie Tector

Munster:
1. Josh Wycherley
2. Marnus Van Der Merwe
3. Kieran Brookes
4. Fineen Wycherley
5. Tadhg Beirne (C) (Ireland Squad)
6. Jack O'Donoghue
7. Alex Kendellen
8. Gavin Coombes
9. Craig Casey (Ireland Squad)
10. Charlie O'Shea
11. Shane Daly
12. Alex Nankivell
13. Sean O'Brien
14. Shay McCarthy
15. Ben O'Connor

Subs: 16. Max Clein; 17. Mark Donnelly; 18. Michael Ala'alatoa (Samoa Squad); 19. Sean Edogbo; 20. Brian Gleeson; 21. Ben O'Donovan; 22. JJ Hanrahan; 23. Gordon Wood

Referee: Andrew Brace