Munster secured a losing bonus-point at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night in a keenly contested match against Leinster.
Munster fell to a 21-16 defeat after Graham Rowntree’s side raced into a 0-10 lead thanks to a Craig Casey try with a conversion and penalty from Jack Crowley to follow.
Leinster hit back with two converted tries to lead 14-10 at the break before Jack Crowley reduced the deficit to one point with another penalty after 52 minutes.
Munster had some good opportunities after this but were unable to take them and Leinster pushed the lead out to 21-13 with another converted try.
Crowley then added another penalty to secure the losing bonus-point.
Both teams had periods of dominance during a superb contest and the outcome hung in the balance right to the end.
Stephen Archer set a new Munster record when he became the most capped player for the province when he made his 269th appearance.
Munster hit the front after six minutes thanks to great work down the right by Simon Zebo — his first action for Munster since March —with Shane Daly and Antoine Frisch also contributing before scrum-half Craig Casey finished superbly in the right corner.
Jack Crowley added the conversion from the right touchline for the perfect start.
The Munster out-half extended the lead with a penalty in front of the posts after 14 minutes.
Munster lost centre Rory Scannell to a yellow card after 22 minutes as Leinster surged for the line, but Munster defended the resultant penalty to touch.
However, Leinster got back in contention when Jamison Gibson-Park pounced to hack from deep and score a converted try after 25 minutes.
Leinster hit the front four minutes from the break when hooker Dan Sheehan got over after a penalty to the corner.
Ciaran Frawley, who had earlier replaced the injured Ross Byrne, added his second conversion to lead 14-10 at the interval.
Munster got on top after the restart and piled forward but the Leinster defence was solid.
Crowley reduced the deficit after 52 minutes with a penalty. Munster piled forward after and put considerable on the Leinster line but did not score.
Leinster extended their lead after 66 minutes when Jordan Larmour scored in the right corner. Frawley landed the conversion from the right to take a 21-13 lead into the closing 13 minutes.
Crowley reduced the margin with a penalty from 35 metres in front of goal to set up a thrilling finish with five points between them.
A break down the left by Conor Murray set up great field position for Munster with less than three minutes remaining, but Leinster defended well to secure the win.
Munster: Simon Zebo (McCarthy 66′); Calvin Nash (McCarthy 22′ Nash 30′), Antoine Frisch, Rory Scannell (Butler 72′), Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey (Murray 50′); Jeremy Loughman (Kilcoyne 52′), Diarmuid Barron (C), Stephen Archer (Ryan 56′); Jean Kleyn (Gleeson 68′), Tadhg Beirne; Tom Ahern, John Hodnett (Kendellen 61′), Gavin Coombes.
URC Round 6 Round-Up
Stephen Archer started at tighthead prop to become Munster’s most-capped player of all-time with 269 Munster appearances.
Jean Kleyn made his first appearance of the URC season since winning the World Cup with the Springboks.
Three Academy players featured from the bench; Brian Gleeson, Tony Butler and Shay McCarthy.