Munster 22-5 Leinster

Munster (6) 22
Tries: Earls, Fogarty Drop-goal: O'Gara Pens: O'Gara (3)

Leinster (0) 5
Try: D'Arcy

Munster's Doug Howlett is tackled by John Fogarty

Munster extended their lead at the top of the Magners League to seven points by beating Leinster 22-5 in Saturday's inter-provincial derby at Thomond Park.

Two penalties by Ronan O'Gara gave Munster a 6-0 half-time lead and the Irish fly-half added a further penalty and a drop-goal in the second half.

Keith Earls extended the lead to 17-0 with a 61st-minute try.

Gordon D'Arcy scored a try in the 67th minute but replacement Denis Fogarty touched down for Munster on 72 minutes.

Felipe Contepomi was off-target with a third-minute penalty attempt but O'Gara made no mistake with his effort on 22 minutes, slotting the ball between the posts to make it 3-0.

O'Gara added a further penalty six minutes later but Rob Kearney missed an opportunity to reduce the deficit when he skewed his penalty wide in the dying moments of the first half.

Man-of-the-match O'Gara landed a penalty from in front of the posts in the 44th minute while Contepomi missed with his second penalty attempt.

An expertly executed drop-goal from O'Gara made it 12-0, before Contepomi missed with a straightforward looking penalty kick.

Earls scored the first try of the game, accepting a pass from Niall Ronan, before shrugging off the challenge of Kearney to touch down in the corner.

D'Arcy gave Leinster some hope when he completed a fine move by latching onto Shane Horgan's pass and crossing the Munster line.

The out-of-form Contepomi missed the conversion.

Lifeimi Mafi was sin-binned for striking Jonathan Sexton after a melee involving several players from both sides in the 70th minute.

Barry Murphy sent replacement Fogarty over for Munster's second try as Leinster failed to defend their line.

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Munster: P Warwick, D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling, R O'Gara, T O'Leary, M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt), A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace. Replacements: D Fogarty, T Buckley, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, P Stringer, B Murphy, D Hurley

Leinster: G Dempsey, I Nacewa, G D'Arcy, S Horgan, R Kearney, F Contepomi, C Whitaker, C Healy, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen (capt), M O'Kelly, R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: J Fogarty, R McCormack, T Hogan, S O'Brien, C Keane, J Sexton, S Keogh