Leinster head coach Leo Cullen praised his side's attitude as they fended off Munster to maintain their 100% start to the season at Thomond Park.
The province made it nine wins from nine games to start the BKT United Rugby Championship campaign, as two tries in each half saw them flex their muscles against a dogged, but limited Munster in Limerick.
It could have been a different game had Munster taken advantage of a first half yellow card for Leinster wing Tommy O’Brien, who was sent to the sin-bin on 20 minutes following repeated penalties in the 22.
While Munster hammered at the Leinster line, Garry Ringrose held Tadhg Beirne up, before Leinster hit back with a Sam Prendergast try to go 14-0 in front, and win the yellow card period 7-0.
"We started the game pretty well, we go 7-0 in front and had to soak up a lot of pressure after that, and eventually Tommy goes to the bin, but we managed to clear our lines and work our way up the field, and after a good bit of pressure on their tryline Sam gets over.
"How we managed that period with 14 players was good in terms of outcome, playing quite sensibly.
"Munster came back pretty strong in the second half and get in for a try, but it's good that we managed to hit back straight away. Those periods were quite important during the game.
"All the bench guys added pretty well, so it was a good 23-man effort," Cullen (below) added.
Among those players who made an impact off the bench was Andrew Porter, who was introduced just 22 minutes into the contest, and the Ireland international would go in to contribute to a dominant Leinster scrum.
Curiously, Porter’s introduction was a tactical change just a quarter of the way through, something Cullen revealed they had planned in advance, giving Jack Boyle the first quarter of the contest in the starting team.
"A pre-planned experiment we’ll call it.
"We just wanted to see Jack starting a big game. We wanted to get some decent time into Andrew as well. He (Boyle) knew it was happening so it wasn’t a big shock to him, so that was the important bit. An experiment, we’ll call it," he added.
Munster interim coach Ian Costello lamented his side’s profligacy in attack, in particular their inability to punish Leinster when they had been down to 14 players in the opening half.
"It's disappointing that the game got away on us but when you play a side like Leinster, of that quality, that's what happens if you're inaccurate in any areas," he said.
"They had five chances five metres out from the line, they took four. We had four quick taps and a five-metre lineout and converted one.
"And our scrum was under pressure as well. If you're off in any area against Leinster, unfortunately you can be on the end of a scoreline like that.
"But it's pretty frustrating based on some of the positive elements of our performance, unfortunately."
While Munster got back into the tie on 45 minutes with Tom Ahern’s try, Josh van der Flier’s score five minutes later all but sealed the game in Leinster’s favour.
Munster captain Tadhg Beirne could be heard remonstrating with referee Sam Grove White to refer that score to the TMO after James Ryan could be seen to play the ball on the ground at the previous ruck.
And Costello added that he was puzzled by the interpretation of the incident.
"I felt we counter-rucked it and had gotten the ball back. So there's a bit of confusion around that, it was a big swing.
"To be fair to them, they brought a lot of power off the bench in the last 20 minutes, they were very, very strong, very impressive.
"It happened twice in the game, don't know. We counter-rucked, new offside line, my understanding is you can't pick the ball up and score, you know. Anyway, that's just a moment or two in the game."
