2021 Pro14 Grand Final

The 2021 Pro14 Grand Final was the final rugby match of the 2020–21 Pro14 season. The 2020–21 season was the seventh with Guinness as the title sponsor and the twelfth with a grand final. Leinster won the match 16–6 to win their fourth successive league title and their eighth overall.^[1]

2021 Pro14 Grand Final

Event	2020–21 Pro14
Leinster Munster 16 6
Date	27 March 2021
Venue	RDS Arena, Dublin
Man of the Match	Jack Conan
Referee	Mike Adamson (SRU)
Attendance	0[a]
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Route to the final

Main article: 2020–21 Pro14

In a change from previous seasons, the 2020–21 Pro14 regular season was shortened to 16 rounds and, forgoing the usual play-offs, the teams finishing in the first place of each conference will advance straight to the final. These changes were made due to the creation of the Rainbow Cup, which will see four South African Super Rugby teams (the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers) join the twelve remaining Pro14 teams in a new tournament.^[2]

Irish province Munster became the first team to qualify for the final, after their 20–17 win against Connacht in round 14 gave them an unassailable 12 point lead at the top of conference B with two rounds remaining.^[3] Defending champions Leinster secured top spot in conference A with a 38–19 away win against Ulster, advancing to their fourth straight league final.^[4]

Pre-match

The match was televised free-to-air by TG4 in the Republic of Ireland. It was also shown on Eir Sport and on Premier Sports in the UK. It was shown on ESPN+ in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Final

Summary

In the first half, Ross Byrne kicked two penalties to put Leinster into a 6–0 lead after 11 minutes, before Joey Carbery then kicked two penalties for Munster to make the score 6–6 at half-time.^[5] The only try of the match came in the 46th minute from Leinster's Jack Conan when he charged for the line after a scrum and got over on the third attempt. Ross Byrne converted the try and added a third penalty in the 69th minute to make the final score 16–6, it was the sixth win in a row for Leinster against Munster. ^[6]

Details

27 March 2021 17:00

Leinster	16–6	Munster
Try: Conan 46' c Con: R. Byrne (1/1) 47' Pen: R. Byrne (3/4) 3', 11', 68'	Report	Pen: Carbery (2/3) 13', 40'+1

RDS Attendance: 0[a] Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

FB 15 Hugo Keenan RW 14 Jordan Larmour OC 13 Rory O'Loughlin IC 12 Robbie Henshaw LW 11 Dave Kearney FH 10 Ross Byrne  59'  64' SH 9 Luke McGrath (c)  75' N8 8 Jack Conan OF 7 Josh van der Flier BF 6 Rhys Ruddock  73' RL 5 Scott Fardy  59' LL 4 Devin Toner TP 3 Andrew Porter  52' HK 2 Rónan Kelleher  69' LP 1 Cian Healy  52' Substitutions: HK 16 James Tracy  69' PR 17 Ed Byrne  52' PR 18 Tadhg Furlong  52' LK 19 Ross Molony  73' LK 20 Ryan Baird  59' SH 21 Jamison Gibson-Park  75' FH 22 Johnny Sexton  59'  64' WG 23 James Lowe Coach: Leo Cullen

FB 15 Mike Haley RW 14 Andrew Conway OC 13 Chris Farrell IC 12 Damian de Allende  73' LW 11 Keith Earls FH 10 Joey Carbery  69' SH 9 Conor Murray  69' N8 8 CJ Stander OF 7 Peter O'Mahony (c)  48' BF 6 Gavin Coombes RL 5 Tadhg Beirne LL 4 Jean Kleyn  69' TP 3 John Ryan  51' HK 2 Niall Scannell  52' LP 1 James Cronin  51' Substitutions: HK 16 Kevin O'Byrne  52' PR 17 Dave Kilcoyne  51' PR 18 Stephen Archer  51' LK 19 Billy Holland  69' BR 20 Jack O'Donoghue  48' SH 21 Craig Casey  69' FH 22 JJ Hanrahan  69' CE 23 Rory Scannell  73' Coach: Johann van Graan

Man of the Match: Jack Conan Assistant referees: Chris Busby (IRFU) Seán Gallagher (IRFU) Television match official: Joy Neville (IRFU)

Notes

1. This game was played behind closed doors due to COVID-19 restrictions.