Munster 20; Edinburgh 19
This weekend, we will know for sure the strides Munster are making under new Head Coach Clayton McMillan as they make the journey to take on their biggest rivals Leinster in Croke Park.
They continued their 100 percent start with victory against an ill-disciplined Edinburgh, who had no less than four sin-binnings in the course of the game and yet caused the home side all sorts of problems in Cork.
It took a late Fineen Wycherley try on top of a brace from Michael Milne and an earlier score from Andrew Smith to get the hosts to a bonus-point victory. In retrospect, Edinburgh will know that if they had maintained their discipline, they could have easily changed that one point defeat into a handsome away win.
However, that wasn’t the way Head Coach McMillan saw it, instead praising his men for the way they "stood up when it really mattered".
In fact, they were behind for most of the match except when Smith dotted down early and by the hour mark they were 19-10 in arrears and looked in all sorts of trouble.
Milne got his second try and then Wycherley’s 72nd-minute try edged his side home.
In fairness Munster had made 10 changes to the starting side that beat Cardiff, so that explained the lack of cohesion that undermined much of their game plan.
“Aspects, there was some stuff that we talked about last week that we weren’t so good at and I think we showed some improvement,” he told TG4.
“The really pleasing thing was that we had a number of new bodies and they all acquitted themselves well. We got put under immense pressure and stood up when it really mattered so those bits are really encouraging. Lots to work on, it’s only game three.
“The changes mean that you lack a little bit of rhythm but the trade-off is that you are getting bodies out there and they are all fighting to get out there the next week. And at this stage of the season that’s just as important.
“We know that we need to be better but we’ve shown we aren't going to roll over and die easily so that is hugely encouraging,” he stressed.
Munster now sit joint top of the table with 14 points and face Leinster this Saturday.
Leinster get first win of season
After two poor enough showing in South Africa, Leinster were back on home soil albeit against a South African side and looked much more like the Leinster of old as they ran in five tries in a 31-5 victory at the Aviva Stadium.
Having conceded 10 tries and 74 points in their opening two defeats to the Stormers and Bulls, they welcomed back many of their big Lions guns for this encounter - and their presence told from first whistle to last.
They created well for the five tries and their only concession was an intercept by wing Ethan Hooker after outhalf Harry Byrne, who had an otherwise excellent game, saw his long pass fall short of reaching its target.
Afterwards Cullen declared: “When you look at the season, the schedule right from the off, we're away in South Africa, you have a lot of moving parts in terms of guys returning. This week was going to be a short week and you're up against a team that's been in Europe for the last couple of weeks.
“The defense overall was good particularly off the back of the last couple of weeks where we got cut up a bit cheaply at different parts of our game. You concede four tries one week and six the following week, so 10 tries.
“The ledger is looking a little bit better. We're still on negative points difference for the first three games. As I said, we have plenty to work on.”
Leinster were 21-0 ahead with tries from Jamie Osborne, Jimmy O’Brien and captain Josh van der Flier. Osborne and Van der Flier were two of the five Lions contingent who made their first appearances of the season, though Andrew Porter, Jamison Gibson-Park and Garry Ringrose only took part in the warm up.
Max Deegan and replacement Gus McCarthy added second-half tries while man of the match Byrne converted the first three.
Added the Head Coach: “It's a step in the right direction and all those guys will hopefully be better for the experience today. They've all come through, touch wood, in one piece. We're through now and hopefully the wider group will be better for the experience, but we still have a long way to go,” he stated.
Cullen expect more of his top players to be available for this weekend’s encounter in Croker adding: “We have a great test this week. Munster in Croke Park will be a great occasion, we hope, once again. It's one of those fixtures that’s so special in the sporting calendar in general, not just the rugby calendar. Let's hope we'll be well supported from both teams and we get another magic day out there. It'll be a great challenge because those guys have probably been a bit more cohesive [than us] at this moment in time.”
Connacht lose, Ulster win
Cardiff's Tom Bowen scored a brace of tries as the Welsh side beat Connacht 14-8 at Cardiff Arms Park.
Stuart Lancaster’s Connacht team went ahead through an 11th-minute Cathal Forde penalty but then were caught out for Bowen’s first try, which was converted by Callum Sheedy.
Connacht were in many aspects the more impressive side but they kept making mistakes at the wrong time and failed to penetrate for the scores they needed to get back on the front foot.
Bowen then made them pay for their careless play by intercepting to run in for his second dot down with four minutes left .
The only consolation for the visitors was a David O’Connor try with the last play of the game which gave them a losing-bonus point.
Connacht host the Bulls this weekend.
Meanwhile Ulster had a bonus-point win over Bulls at Affidea Stadium.
Richie Murphy’s side hit the ground running against an outfit who had recorded two previous victories, including a victory over Leinster.
Stuart McCloskey and Wilco Louw swapped first-half tries with the teams tied 7-7 at the break.
Ulster however found their stride on the changeover and scored three second-half tries through Iain Henderson, Rob Herring and Cormac Izuchukwu, as man of the match Nathan Doak kicked four conversions.
Ulster are off to South Africa this week to face Sharks and Lions in the upcoming two fixtures.
