URC: Leinster 24 Ulster 20
The supposition beforehand was that Leinster’s bench would give them the nap hand and that’s how it turned out as the home side came from 17-7 and 20-12 down to claim five points. It was a game pockmarked by mistakes, but it didn’t diminish the entertainment quotient.
A word too for Jack Conan, who more than any other Leinster player – Tom Stewart was his counterpoint for Ulster – did more than anyone to drag the home side over the winning line.
The home side had a largely scratchy start to the game, and their wanton inability to execute the basics got them into trouble, a bucketful. Sam Prendergast was errant in his kicking, and that was compounded by moments of indiscipline and other occasions when lapses in concentration proved punitive.
Ulster wing Werner Kok was the main beneficiary of Leinster’s inadvertent largesse, the South African grabbing a couple of opportunist tries, the first from a flat cross-kick from Jack Murphy whose flight deceived Leinster fullback Ciarán Frawley.
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The second came when Charlie Tector’s offload was intercepted by Nathan Doak, who shoved the ball through with his boot. Kok was the quickest to react and benefited from a kindly bounce to race under the posts.
Doak converted and the visitors stuck for a third try, just before the interval when hooker Tom Stewart shrugged off James Lowe’s tackle to barrel his way over for a try. Leinster, for all their possession and opportunities in the Ulster 22, managed just a single try, from Rieko Ioane.
Ulster looked to have thwarted their opponents with brilliant goal-line defence tackles on Charlie Tector and Scott Penny, highlights, the home side guilty of being static in their ball carrying for the most part, a perpetual faultline when they got within touching distance of their opponents’ line.
However, playing with a penalty advantage the home side eventually fought their way over the try-line, Ioane grabbed Prendergast’s long pass at the second attempt, rode the contact with Rob Baloucoune to ricochet his way over the try-line.
What should have irked Leinster at half-time was that it was their frailties that cost them dearly. Missing touch, poor punting, misplaced passes undermined several passages of promising attacking rugby. Ulster scrambled and hustled, rode a little bit of good fortune and when the chances materialised were assured in taking them.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen summoned a new frontrow and Joe McCarthy from the bench three minutes after the restart; Ulster lost Baloucoune to injury. Jack Murphy had more time than he appreciated when opting for a one-handed flick in midfield that ended up drifting forward. If it had gone to hand, the visitors looked destined to secure a fourth, and bonus-point try.
The only source of solace for Leinster was the scrum, dominant throughout. It provided the launchpad for the home side’s second try, Lowe’s superb long pass gave Kenny space, the right wing’s hitch-kick and searing acceleration enabled a brilliant finish, his fifth try in the three matches in which he has started.
Harry Byrne on for Tector (HIA) hit the post with the conversion. The momentum generated by the bench emboldened the home side, direct, physical and winning the collisions. But some of that dissipated when James Ryan, winning his 100th cap, received a yellow card for a clear-out on Sam Crean at a ruck.
Max Deegan was pinged twice in quick succession, the upshot of which allowed Doak to land a penalty from fully 45 metres to push Ulster out to a 20-12 lead going into the final quarter. A challenge for Leinster was to remain composed as they rattled through one gain-line after another in the Ulster 22.
On 65 minutes they did that, the forwards battering a passage to the Ulster line before Byrne’s long pass gave Lowe enough time and space to dot down for a try. McCloskey gave the visitors possession and position in the Leinster 22, but a knock-on gave the home side the chance to reassert scrum dominance with a penalty.
Ryan returned, the indefatigable McCann replaced him on the naughty step when going for a one-handed intercept that saw the Ulster flanker receive a yellow card. Leinster kicked and then muscled their way into the visitors 22, Prendergast grubber-kicked away possession but Kok was penalised at a ruck.
The home side kicked to the corner, Joe McCarthy won the throw, the maul went forward and Dan Sheehan flopped over the line for his side’s fourth, and bonus-point try.
Scoring sequence 13 mins: Kok try, 0-5; 26: Ioane try, Prendergast conversion, 7-5; 33: Kok try, Doak conversion, 7-12; 37: Stewart try, 7-17. Half-time: 7-17. 53: Kenny try, 12-17; 61: Doak penalty, 12-20; 65: Lowe try, 17-20; 74: Sheehan try, Byrne conversion, 24-20.
Leinster: C Frawley; J Kenny, R Ioane, C Tector, J Lowe; S Prendergast, L McGrath; J Boyle, G McCarthy, R Slimani; B Deeny, J Ryan; A Soroka, S Penny, J Conan (capt). Replacements: D Sheehan for G McCarthy 43 mins; P McCarthy for Boyle 43 mins; T Furlong for Slimani 43 mins; J McCarthy for Deeny 43 mins; H Byrne for Tector (HIA) 46 mins; M Deegan for Soroka 52 mins; F Gunne for McGrath 71 mins.
Yellow card: James Ryan 58 mins.
Ulster: J Stockdale; R Baloucoune, J Postlethwaite, S McCloskey, W Kok; J Murphy, N Doak; A Bell, T Stewart, T O’Toole; H Sheridan, C Irvine; D McCann, N Timoney (capt), J Augustus. Replacements: J Hopes for Irvine 46 mins; E McIlroy for Baloucoune 49 mins; S Crean for Bell 54 mins; S Wilson for O’Toole 54 mins; B Ward for Augustus 64 mins; J Andrew for Stewart (blood, 64-71 mins); D Shanahan for Doak 79 mins.
Yellow card: D McCann 72 mins.
Referee: A Brace (IRFU).
