That was far from a Christmas cracker but Leinster will be delighted to come away from one their toughest trips of the season with a victory.

The poor weather contributed to an attritional battle and Harry Byrne's three points proved to be the difference at Thomond Park.

The victory takes Leinster top of the URC table ahead of a New Year's Day meeting with interprovincial rivals Ulster.

Munster, who dug deep defensively but offered little in attack, will plan ahead of a meeting with Connacht on the same day.

Man-of-the-match Joe McCarthy of Leinster gives his thoughts to RTE after the game:

"Yeah it is hugely satisfying, Munster are so often one score games and we knew it would be tight.

"We enjoyed it, we knew we would have to dig deep.

"It might not have been pretty to watch but we got the job done.

"We're taking every game as it comes and we'll enjoy it tonight. I thought our line defence and bench were fantastic."

It's all over at Thomond.

Not the greatest spectacle for neutrals, but it was to be expected with some awful weather conditions.

Harry Byrne kicks all nine points for Leinster with Jack Crowlet the solitary scorer for the hosts.

Leinster go back to the summit of the URC with the victory.

The scrum collapses again and with a new Leinster penalty Byrne goes for the posts, knowing the clock is his friend. Its over and that's game over.

Results are in.

The fans tonight see a Leinster win. Hard to argue with now.

Penalty advantage to Leinster in front of the posts for offside!

Jeremy Loughman walks for 10 minutes and the visitors call a scrum. 100 seconds left. Surely they can run down the clock from here?

It's Leinster with the ball inside the Munster 22.

A last blast to try get that winning try.

Quick poll for fun.

Thumbs down for a Munster win

Thumbs up for a Leinster victory!

Alan Quinlan
Former Munster and Ireland flanker on Viaplay

'You feel Munster have to come up with a big moment and get up to that scoring zone.'

The game really getting scrappy now.

Play almost entirely between the two 10-metre lines.

Can either side get a try that would surely win it as we head into the final five minutes?

Some running repairs on-field now with both sides showing signs of being in such an attritional game.

Andrew Brace will need to be substituting his whistle soon.

It's being going none-stop this half. Handling errors really adding up in these monsoon conditions.

Oli Jager goes off for Stephen Archer.

Solid night's game and Andy Farrell will be looking on no doubt. Impressive 65 minutes.

Errors all round here now.

Brian Gleeson firstly gets smashed in contact by the Leinster defence to knock-on, then Garry Ringrose kicks long and Munster touch the ball over the touchline.

Leinster end up with a penalty and its another kick for Harry Byrne.

Byrne swings his kick wide from wide left. In fairness to Byrne it's a horror of a wind.

Alan Quinlan
Former Munster and Ireland flanker on Viaplay

'That's a huge, huge turnover - it's brilliant from Thomas Ahern. They're the moments that keep you in the game because if Leinster had of scored that was the game. Munster have rteally dug in defensively.'

This time it's Joe McCarthy who wins a penalty on the deck!

Harry Byrne points at the sticks...

But the Leinster-man strikes the uprights! Could it be Munster's night?

It's turned over again!

Tom Ahern the man who forces the penalty at a ruck. Gets his mitts on the ball and Leinster prevent him taking it.

Leinster with their first threatening period of the second-half.

The forwards rucking hard as they make their way deep into the Munster 22.