Leinster Lions 8 Munster 15: Champions Begin With

Leinster 8 - 15 Munster Donnybrook   Att: 6,000 Referee: Paul Adams Friday 5th September 2003, 19:35

Munster began the defence of their Celtic crown with a 15-8 victory over Leinster Lions at Donnybrook, thanks to five penalties from Jeremy Staunton.

And the champions survived seven minutes of injury-time to hold out for a deserved victory. Leinster piled on the pressure in the closing minutes after Munster were reduced to 14 players following the sin-binning of prop Simon Kerr. The home side led 5-3 at the end of a disjointed first half with a try from Brendan Burke. In a gamed more memorable for defensive organisation than offensive flair, the difference proved to be the accuracy of Staunton’s boot.

Leinster V Munster   P D C T Pos Player Player Pos T C D P   FB Christian Warner 15 Jeremy Staunton FB 5 1 W Gordon D'Arcy 14 Shaun Payne W C Kieran Lewis 13 Mike Mullins C C David Quinlan 12 Rob Henderson C 1 W Brendan Burke 11 Mossie Lawlor W FH Matt Leek 10 Jason Holland FH SH Brian O'Meara 9 Eoin Reddan SH P John Lyne 1 Simon Kerr P H Gavin Hickie 2 Frank Sheahan H P Emmett Byrne 3 Martin Cahill P L Leo Cullen 4 Donncha O'Callaghan L L Ben Gissing 5 Eddie Halvey L FL Aidan McCullen 6 Jim Williams FL FL Keith Gleeson 7 Alan Quinlan FL 8 Des Dillon 8 Anthony Foley 8 Replacements r Niall Treston 16 James Blaney - r David Blaney 17 Jody Danagher r - Aidan Kearney 18 Trevor Hogan r r Shane Jennings 19 Denis Leamy r - Brian O'Riordan 20 Frank Murphy - - Gary Brown 21 Jason Jones-Hughes r r John McWeeney 22 Killian Keane r Penalty Tries 0 0

All Pictures: ©  http://www.inpho.ie/, Huw Evans Agency,  Graham Stuart