Rowntree frustrated after 'soft' Leinster tries decide derby

Munster coach Graham Rowntree said that his side were masters of their own downfall, as they missed out on a rare win against Leinster.

The province looked to be well placed to pick up a first victory against Leo Cullen's side at Thomond Park since 2018 when they moved into a 14-6 lead early in the second half.

But despite Leinster being down to 14 men due to Max Deegan's yellow card, they outscored Munster 14-0 across the next 10 minutes, holding out for a 20-19 win, their 12th out of 12 in all competitions this season.

"Without having a load of territory in that first half we were ahead, and then in the third quarter we worked hard for a penalty try, they had a guy in the bin and we concede two soft tries. We can't do that, we just can't do that," the Munster coach said.

"We lost our way towards the end of our way there against a good team, whoever they seem to put on the field. There's a lot of familiar faces in that Leinster, team, whoever they field, they're a class team.

"The most disappointing thing for me was how we dealt with that time after the penalty try, conceding two soft tries."

Both Leinster tries came off the back of tap-and-go penalty moves from five metres out, with a clever switch allowing Scott Penny (below) score their first, before Dan Sheehan held off two Munster tacklers to barge over for what proved to be the match-winning score.

Rowntree says his side's inability to deal with those moves wasn't good enough.

"I think we were waiting for the next fancy movement off the first carry," he said of Sheehan's try.

"First thing is first, and we didn't deal with the first carry, we were looking at what they were trying to do off it. We have to be better in every game, and particularly against a classy team like