Munster 6 Leinster 6: Honours shared, pride intact; just about right. The teeming rain, the bar of soap masquerading as a ball, the trench warfare and the grim battle for points at Musgrave Park last night were like a step back in time.
Ultimately, though, such is the increasingly fine line between these two that for the second year running in the Guinness Interprovincials there was nothing between them.
The primary purpose of the exercise was as a warm-up for Munster for next week's Heineken Cup semi-final, and by just giving them a competitive run-out for the first time since January it will have been invaluable.
However there were some injuries: Ronan O'Gara was taken off with a hand injury and a bruised left knee. Jim Williams hobbled off with an injury to his left calf which makes him doubtful for next weekend. Paul O'Connell suffered a shoulder injury which left him stiff and will need to be assessed. The most serious was Nathan Spooner's dislocated shoulder which compounds a previous problem for the Leinster man which necessitated an operation.
Leinster's set-pieces were marginally the better, particularly the lineout, and they looked slightly more cohesive. Their "fringe players" excelled, most notably Bob Casey.
The open side contest was one of the game's classiest, David Wallace becoming stronger and stronger as the night wore on, while Keith Gleeson did his thing as only he can. Generally, though, the atrocious conditions were compounded by the familiarity, and not even Brian O'Driscoll could surprise his red-shirted friends and foes with his box of tricks.
Despite the loss of Williams, the introduction of Alan Quinlan didn't curtail Munster's spark and the extra option strengthened their line-out. Munster, unusually, made more handling errors and looked the more anxious until near the end when they calmed down and finished the stronger.
It was a mighty effort all roound in atrocious conditions and but for the incessant rain, it could well have been a classic.
Though they took it in turns to go through some impressive recycling, the groundwork was undone when the ball was spilled. The box kicks of Peter Stringer and Brian O'Meara were often the game's most potent weapons. Amid the surfeit of errors, it must have been a nightmare to referee and even Alain Rolland did not have one of his most impressive nights.
You can tell these two teams that it's only a Munster warm-up, that it's not a Celtic revenge thing, that the interpros have been devalued, but it's still Munster v Leinster, the two best teams in Ireland with pride, personal rivalries and bragging rights at stake.
From the off the exchanges began to simmer. A pumped-up Casey rubbed heads with Paul O'Connell, and not affectionately. Marcus Horan and Paul Wallace had a little off-the-ball swipe at each other and then on 37 minutes it all boiled over.
The catalyst was Spooner's high, one-armed tackle on Mick Galwey, which sparked a free-for-all, whereupon Galwey rose and layed into the seemingly innocent Brian O'Meara. With someone else, Rolland might have been inclined to sinbin the offender, but to do that to Galwey hereabouts a referee would probably need to leave his car engine running. Instead Galwey, his face cut, was temporarily replaced, while Spooner was sinbinned. The interval came minutes later, with Munster just 3-0 to the good.
Munster began the second-half clearly pumped up, and controlled possession, but quickly discovered that the wind was a harsh foe. Leinster having gained territory through another of O'Meara's box kicks, Spooner levelled matters with his second attempt upon his return when Quinlan killed ruck ball.
Soon after the replacement of O'Gara served almost to diminish the result. Spooner then edged Leinster in front, and a longeur followed before a spate of penalties to Munster saw Jason Holland level matters after Keith Gleeson was correctly penalised for not rolling away after the tackle. It still needed Mike Mullins to spark Munster and crowd alike further into life by orchestrating a coounter-attack from deep and kicking ahead for Rob Henderson.
Leinster, to their credit withstood the ensuing line-out maul and bout of recycling across their line, as well as a long-range penalty attempt by Holland which fell short and wide to earn a draw. After a night of Trojan mudwrestling, it was the least they deserved.
Scoring sequence: 12 mins: O'Gara pen 3-0. Half-time: 3-0. 54: Spooner pen 3-3; 58: Spooner pen 3-6; 72: Holland pen 6-6.
MUNSTER: D Crotty; J Kelly, R Henderson, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M Galwey (captain), P O'Connell, J Williams, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements: A Quinlan for Williams (27 mins); M O'Driscoll for Galwey (39 mins to half-time) and O'Connell (66), M Mullins for (56).
LEINSTER: G D'Arcy; J McWeeney, B O'Driscoll, D Quinlan, P McKenna; N Spooner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (Captain), S Byrne, P Wallace, B Casey, M O'Kelly, A McCullen, E Miller, K Gleeson. Replacements: S Keogh for D'Arcy (66 mins); L Cullen for Casey (74), B Willis for Spooner (78).
Referee: A Rolland (IRFU).
