WATCH: Munster Rugby's Tadhg Beirne: "Leinster will probably walk away feeling like they got away with one"

MUNSTER Rugby captain Tadhg Beirne and head coach Clayton McMillan were left frustrated by the side's narrow loss to great rivels Leinster in front of a sold-out attendance of 26,006 at Thomond Park on Saturday night.

Munster had been hoping to complete a first home and away regular season double over Leinster in the URC in the Christmas fixture. However, URC champions Leinster held their hosts at bay in an arm wrestle of a derby clash which was stop-start in nature for long periods to record a gritty 13-8 success.

Afterwards Munster Rugby captain, Tadhg Beirne said: “It's just one of those games that we'll be frustrated that we didn't win,” Beirne said. “I think Leinster will probably walk away from here feeling like they got away with one too.” 

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Beirne was disappointed with the home side's inability to make the most of the scoring chances they created.

“I suppose for us it's frustrating that we just couldn't convert our chances. We had a good few opportunities and we had them camped down in their half for a lot of the game. But we just couldn't convert," he said.

“Whether it was a handling error or we just lost a moment around the ruck and the ball spilled out. Just moments like that. Those kind of moments are huge in games like this where it's a one-score game.

“It's just about being better holding on to the ball and breaking the teams down by doing that.”