RaboDirect PRO 12

Leinster and Munster enjoyed comfortable and rather unsurprising home victories over provincial rivals Ulster and Connacht respectively on St Stephen’s Day.

Munster bid a fond farewell to legendary prop John “The Bull” Hayes at Thomond Park, where they defeated Connacht on a 24-9 scoreline.

The game’s two tries both came in the first half, with impressive young full back Sean Scanlon and scrum half Tomas O’Leary both going over.

Connacht out half Niall O’Connor enjoyed a miserable outing, missing a number of kickable penalties and throwing an interception in the build-up to one of Munster’s tries.

The victory saw the defending league champions Munster climb into the top three of the RaboDirect PRO12 table, one point behind Ospreys and seven adrift of runaway leaders Leinster, who easily swatted aside an understrength Ulster side at the RDS earlier in the afternoon.

Ulster boss Brian McLaughlin had given a host of debuts to the younger players of his squad, no doubt keeping some of his more established stars fresh for Thursday’s big game against Munster at Ravenhill.

Fionn Carr, Sean Cronin and Number 8 Leo Auva’a all touched down before half-time to give Leinster a 21-6 half-time lead.

Ulster briefly threatened a revival in the early stages of the second half, when Chris Cochrane crossed to close the gap to seven.

But Leinster nabbed three more tries in the final quarter, with referee Peter Fitzgibbon awarded a penalty try before Ian Madigan and Jamie Hagan both scored to extend Leinster’s winning margin to 29 points (42-13).

In pictures: Munster and Ireland legend John Hayes bids farewell to rugby