Munster A 14 Yorkshire Carnegie 9 - Sinfield kicks three goals but Carnegie edged out

As introductions to Rugby Union go, this was probably the perfect place for Sinfield to make his first start for Yorkshire Carnegie.

A wet and windy night in the south west of Ireland against a passionate Munster A side in front of a curious Kinsale crowd who had heard the name but did not know much else about the rugby league legend.

Carnegie travelled to the British & Irish Cup game on the afternoon of the match, only touching down at Cork airport less than two hours before kick- off.

Head coach Bryan Redpath had said his side would not look their travel arrangements as an excuse and they certainly set about their task with relish.

Munster A included a host of senior players in their squad with their Champions Cup game in France having been postponed.

That included Argentinean winger Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, whose last outing had been at the Olympic Stadium in London in the runners-up play-off in the World Cup against South Africa.

Yorkshire battled hard against a strong wind in the first half but despite some desperate defence they were unable to deny second row Billy Holland a try after 14 minutes. That was converted by Ireland A fly-half Rory Scannell to give the home side a 7-0 lead.

Sinfield uncharacteristically missed two attempts at goal for penalties to cut the gap either side of a successful penalty attempt.

Munster then extended their lead at the break to 14-3 when Cathal Sheridan took a quick tap from a penalty close in and scooted over. Scannell added the conversion.

However, given the strength of the wind, the home side would have hoped for a bigger advantage to defend in the second half.

Carnegie started the second half strongly and looked to take advantage when Munster had try scorer Holland sin-binned for taking fellow second row Dean Schofield out in the air from the line-out.

Eventually they had to settle for a Sinfield penalty to cut the gap and the deficit was reduced further when the fly-half kicked his third penalty of the game with eight minutes to go.

That set up a tense finish as the young Carnegie side looked to secure a memorable win but just as they appeared to be driving over the line from a line out close in they were adjudged to have lost possession and Munster were able to kick clear and keep the visitors at arms length for the remainder of the game.

Munster A: D Johnston, Gonzalez Amorosino, D’Arcy, Bohane, R O’Mahony, R. Scannell, Sheridan, J Ryan, O’Byrne, Sagario, McCarthy, B Holland, Coghlan, Doyle, S Buckley. Reps: Rossiter, L O’Connor, S O’Connor, Oliver, Williams, B Johnston, Sweetnam.

Yorkshire Carnegie: Prell, Doherty, Wright, Lucock, Tai, Sinfield, Pilgrim, Capps, Graham, Hooper, Schofield, Smith, Beck, Barnard, Williams. Reps: Poole, Imiolek, Sheldon, Preston-Routledge, C Walker, Green.

Attendance: 1,000.