Munster coach Graham Rowntree said that his side were masters of their own downfall, as they missed out on a rare win against Leinster.

The province looked to be well placed to pick up a first victory against Leo Cullen's side at Thomond Park since 2018 when they moved into a 14-6 lead early in the second half.

But despite Leinster being down to 14 men due to Max Deegan's yellow card, they outscored Munster 14-0 across the next 10 minutes, holding out for a 20-19 win, their 12th out of 12 in all competitions this season.

"Without having a load of territory in that first half we were ahead, and then in the third quarter we worked hard for a penalty try, they had a guy in the bin and we concede two soft tries. We can't do that, we just can't do that," the Munster coach said.

"We lost our way towards the end of our way there against a good team, whoever they seem to put on the field. There's a lot of familiar faces in that Leinster, team, whoever they field, they're a class team.

"The most disappointing thing for me was how we dealt with that time after the penalty try, conceding two soft tries."

Both Leinster tries came off the back of tap-and-go penalty moves from five metres out, with a clever switch allowing Scott Penny (below) score their first, before Dan Sheehan held off two Munster tacklers to barge over for what proved to be the match-winning score.

Rowntree says his side's inability to deal with those moves wasn't good enough.

"I think we were waiting for the next fancy movement off the first carry," he said of Sheehan's try.

"First thing is first, and we didn't deal with the first carry, we were looking at what they were trying to do off it. We have to be better in every game, and particularly against a classy team like that.

"There are lots of positives, but when you lose a game like that you focus on the negatives. We'll review it again as coaches, and move forward in six days in Belfast.

"We spoke about it a lot, they have an armoury of quick-tap moves. We spoke about it, and previewed it in the week, and trained it, but we have to be better.

"In the white-hot heat of the battle we have to be better than that."

It's a second time this month that Leinster have rallied back from losing positions, and numerical disadvantages, to win interpro games.

Head coach Cullen was thrilled with his side's character.

"It's a pretty unorthodox type of win, isn’t it?," the Leinster boss said. "But the guys showed great character out there, which is pleasing.

"We’re eight points down at the start of the second half, lose a man to the bin, then to win that next 10 minutes by 14 points, when we accumulate most of our points, that’s really, really pleasing.

"And the last 10 minutes, reasonably controlled, playing the game in the right areas, even though it’s pretty chaotic if you see some of the breakdowns there where players are coming in from all angles, but we managed to get over the line.

"We’re pleased with a hard-earned four points."