Rugby Roundup:

The demise of the interprovincial matches, now subsumed into the Celtic League due to the hopelessly packed calendars these sides have to adhere to; the fact that Munster hadn’t lost a game on Leinster’s home turf since way back in 1992; the supposed (in all probability imagined) jiggery-pokery behind the fact that Munster were allowed to use a couple of internationals more than Leinster were, and, of course, Declan Kidney’s first time facing Munster, the team he built and nurtured and still loves.
The home win, then, while not exactly earth shattering, was still an eyebrow raiser. Especially so given the way the game ended. With two points between the sides and just the 2 minutes left, Munster fullback Christian Cullen had the ball in his hands for a penalty inside the Munster half. Leinster already had Ricky Nebbett in the sin bin, so the denouement looked simple — Cullen kicks to touch, Munster take the lineout and drive on for either the game-winning penalty or drop goal. But Cullen missed his kick and Leinster survived.
And survival is the right word here. Leinster flopped across the line thanks only to the 17-3 lead they’d built before Munster had managed to wipe the sleep from their eyes. Four second-half penalties from Paul Burke were what had been needed to haul Munster back within spitting distance. In the end, Leinster deserved to hold on, but only just.
Munster still haven’t got going just yet this season and after three games in the Celtic League, they are still winless. They were stop-start for most of this game and it was their lack of composure that had them so far behind. Both Leinster tries came from turnovers after poor handling errors stopped Alan Gaffney’s side in their tracks.
First, David Wallace flung a testing pass out to Anthony Horgan, high and fast and at a difficult angle. Leinster were on to it in a trice, but when Ben Gissing slung a sharp pass out to Gary Brown, there was still plenty to do. But do it he did, turning on the jets before shimmying past Cullen for the first try.
The second was a horrible affair for Munster, with, first, Horgan being dumped by Christian Warner, causing him to cough up the ball, and then Eoin Reddan dithering over the loose ball for just long enough to allow James Norton to toe-poke it ahead of him and dribble it across the line. Two tries leaked for no good reason other than carelessness.
Burke’s boot brought them back into matters in the second half, but the final result was mostly a just one. Probably the day’s best news was the 70 minutes Denis Hickie played. Pressed into action earlier than he’d have liked due to John McWeeney’s 10th-minute hamstring injury, Hickie nonetheless looked sharper than the 10 month layoff he’s just put in would have suggested.

ULSTER 19, CONNACHT 13
Neither side came away from this curious game at the Sportsground in Galway last Saturday at all happy with themselves. Ulster, having lost their two-year unbeaten home record the previous weekend to Leinster, showed here exactly why with another out-of-sorts performance. And Connacht, conscious of the fact that Ulster won’t be there for nearly as much taking the next time around, played equally poorly and barely deserved the bonus point they managed to eke out.
Stranger yet, there was a short period there near the end when it looked like Connacht were going to grab a last-minute try, the conversion of which would have won them the game. After substitute scrum-half Conor O’Loughlin scuttled over a few minutes from the end the bring Connacht within six, the Galway crowd got themselves into a tizzy. But Ulster held on and in his 100th game for the province, David Humphreys steered them home.
It would have been larceny of the highest order had Connacht stolen this, even if Ulster were so far below their best as to have deserved a lesson. But with Humphreys orchestrating and the back row of Andy Ward, Roger Wilson and Neil Best doing more then the rest of them to keep their standards up, they were still a cut above the westerners. The only try of the game came just before half-time when a smart move by Johnny Bell from a close-in scrum sent wing Tommy Bowe (a Monaghan man playing rugby for Ulster — the times, they really are a-changin?) in at the right corner.
Humphreys kept the scoreboard rolling along, but Ulster couldn’t get any fluidity going at all no matter what they tried. Because of that, with five minutes to go, they were only 19-6 ahead — dominant to be sure but still susceptible to a two-try finish by Connacht. It didn’t happen but for a moment there, it looked on.