Leinster vs Munster | Carbery vs O'Shea

Leinster came from behind to secure a 24-18 victory over Munster in the United Rugby Championship, scoring four tries to two in a contest that remained competitive until the closing stages.

We looked at the flyhalves and how they played

Joey Carbery (Leinster, No. 10, 75 min)

Positives

• Kicked 2 of his 4 conversions.
• Made a clean break at 60', and had 33m from 8 carries, with 6 of those carries crossing the gain line.
• Strong defensively for a fly-half: 11 tackles at 85% success, with 9 of them in his own half.
• Good in the kicking game, with 118 metres from hand across 5 kicks, and 3 of those found grass in-field.
• Distributed 23 passes and was involved in 24 plays overall.
• Led the “Defenders Beaten” count in the live leader tables, with 4 beaten, tied with Hugo Keenan.

Negatives

• Missed 2 of 4 conversions (50%): one wide right at 34' after O’Brien’s try, and one off the right post at 64' after Tector’s try. Leinster won by 6, so those 4 points mattered, although they didn’t change the result.
• Placed 3 passes badly (3 bad passes) and lost the ball twice, once through a kick error and once in a ruck.
• Missed 2 tackles.
• Conceded a penalty for killing the ruck in his own half.

Charlie O’Shea (Munster, No. 10, started and was replaced at 64' by JJ Hanrahan, then came back on at 69' for the injured Shane Daly)

Positives

• Scored 8 points: 2 penalties (6' and 29') and a conversion (27'), which made him Munster’s top points-scorer. He kicked 3 of 4 place kicks (75%).
• Munster led 13-5 at half-time thanks largely to his accuracy.
• Kicked for territory very well, with 220 metres from hand across 9 kicks, 9 kicks in touch, and 8 good penalty-kick-for-touch kicks totalling 188 metres.
• Solid defensively, with 12 tackles at 75% success.
• Made a clean break and a defender beaten, and had 14m from 4 runs.

Negatives

• Missed the conversion on Ben O’Connor’s try at 82', which would have given Munster a chance to get closer. It slid wide left, and Munster lost by 6 (24-18), so the extra 2 points would have made it a 4-point margin rather than 6.
• Missed 3 tackles.