Munster player ratings: Jack Crowley outclasses Sam Prendergast in emphatic win while ‘superhuman’ Tadhg Beirne stars

Following Munster’s emphatic 31-14 victory over Leinster at Croke Park, here’s how we rated Clayton McMillan’s men in the United Rugby Championship epic.

Munster player ratings

15 Shane Daly: Quietly effective at the back with little to no errors. Simply got the job done with little fuss or flash. 6

14 Andrew Smith: Lasted just nine minutes before he pulled up injured. Unfair to give him a fair rating. N/A

13 Tom Farrell: His try came from sheer genius and skill as he chased Crowley’s chip to perfection and expertly slapped it past Jimmy O’Brien and James Lowe, leaving the pair looking rather silly as they collided into one another as he cantered away. Came agonisingly close to scoring another that resulted in a penalty try. Led the defensive structure that kept Leinster’s threats at bay. 8

12 Dan Kelly: Huge defensively, with only Fineen Wycherley making more tackles than the midfielder (19), who combined well with Farrell with the ball in hand too. Nuts and bolts performance. 7

11 Thaakir Abrahams: Always a tricky customer with ball in hand and today was no different, notably skinning a few defenders before offloading to Farrell in the build-up to the penalty try. Racked up three line breaks, beat four defenders and made the second most metres in a strong outing. 7

10 Jack Crowley: The coin toss for man of the match landed on Crowley, edging captain Beirne, but frankly, he thoroughly deserved it. He was outstanding from start to finish, in every facet of the game. Brave in defence, as per usual, and tactically excellent. Outclassed Sam Prendergast in the positional head-to-head, which may give him the edge for the November internationals. A sensational, world-class shift from the Munster ace. A statement of intent. 9

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9 Ethan Coughlan: Pinched a pass off his opposite number and cantered away from inside his own half to grab a huge momentum-swinging try for the men in red. Add real whip and accuracy to the Munster attack while his kicking was on point too. Possibly his finest outing to date, which made seeing him go off injured all the more gutting. 8

Tireless pack effort

8 Brian Gleeson: A really, really strong start, the 21-year-old, who was carrying with real venom, grabbed a try and tackled strongly before being forced from the pitch in the 28th minute after a storming start. That number eight jersey has real significance to the history of this proud province, particularly this week, and goodness did he do it justice, and that’s praise in itself. 8

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7 Jack O’Donoghue: This Munster win was inspired through sheer refusal to be beaten, and few epitomised that quite like O’Donoghue. He tackled anything and everything in blue and had a relentless work-rate throughout. 7

6 Tadhg Beirne (c): Captain’s shift. Superhuman at times. His breakdown work was outrageous. Big player, for the big moments. Outrageous. Looked spent as he trodded off in the 64th minute to undergo an HIA but returned to finish the job. 9

5 Fineen Wycherley: Aggressive and accurate in everything he did, a mighty shift from the second rower and crucial in the defensive effort. 7

4 Edwin Edogbo: The injury-riddled youngster stamped his mark on the fixture with a fantastic turnover early and was rather quiet from then on, but was otherwise solid. 6

3 John Ryan: Frankly, the Leinster set-piece dominated Munster’s for much of the match as Ryan failed to find any answers to Paddy McCarthy or Andrew Porter threw at him. Around the park, he was strong. Conceded a host of penalties too. He would have loved his cameo on the side of the scrum. 4

2 Diarmuid Barron: Part of a back-pedaling scrum, but his lineout throws were on point while he threw his weight around on defence and at the breakdown. 5

1 Michael Milne: Ditto at scrum time as his fellow front-rowers as he was shunted into reverse more often than not. Conceded a pair of penalties and was replaced early in the second half. 4

Replacements: The starters laid the platform, and the bench simply finished off the job in a massive shift. Gavin Coombes was immense before he fist pumped his way off the pitch following his late yellow card, while fellow earlier entry Alex Nankivell was brilliant on the wing in every way. The front-rowers also struggled, like the starters, in the scrums, but that ultimately mattered little while Jean Kleyn was brutally effective in defence. 8

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