Leinster 18 Ulster 3:Leinter made it through to the Magners League final this evening, but it remains to be seen at exactly what cost. Brian O'Driscoll was just one of a raft of injuries the Heineken Cup finalists suffered on the night to leave coach Joe Schmidt facing an anxious few days ahead of next week's European decider in Cardiff.
Isaac Boss and Mike Ross departed the scene just after the half hour mark and although O’Driscoll lasted until half-time but was limping heavily as he made his way to the dressing room. To compound matters, Richardt Strauss had to be helped from the field early in the second half and the hooker looked to be in considerable discomfort with a hip problem.
While the exact nature of the injuries is not known at this stage, it is safe to assume the Leinster medical team will be busy over the weekend attempting to patch up their walking wounded for the trip to the Millennium Stadium tomorrow week.
“It’s really hard to tell right now,” Schmidt said of the injury situation. “There’s three or four guys who are going for scans and we’ll just have to take it from there. Drico (O'Driscoll) is renowned as a fast healer and we’d dearly love him to be okay. There’s an eight day turnaround so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Fergus McFadden’s 25th-minute effort was the only try of a tightly-contested first half, supplemented by two Jonathan Sexton penalties to give the hosts an 11-0 half-time lead. A monster penalty from Ruan Pienaar got Ulster off the mark, but Luke Fitzgerald’s late converted try leaves Leinster just 160 minutes away from a potential cup double.
Ulster had completed the league phase in impressive fashion, claiming nine wins in their last 11 outings in the competition. But injuries to Stephen Ferris, Paddy Wallace, Andrew Trimble and BJ Botha
robbed them of key personnel and their provincial rivals proved too strong for them for the third time this season. Dan Tuohy (hamstring) was also ruled out for Ulster, with Tim Barker taking his place in the second row.
Leinster lined up with 12 of the team that started against Toulouse in their pulsating European semi-final two weeks ago, the other inclusions being McFadden, ex-Ulsterman Isaac Boss and the fit-again Shane Jennings. And they quickly got on the front foot, a lovely improvised pass from O’Driscoll sending Sean O’Brien storming into the 22 and Sexton clipped over the ensuing penalty.
Ulster leaked four tries in the opening 36 minutes of their most recent visit to the RDS, but their defence was much better this time, although they had a let-off when Fitzgerald knocked on a pass from the rampaging Strauss. Sexton was off target with a penalty from just inside the Ulster half before Jamie Heaslip, Cian Healy and Isa Nacewa sparked a long range attack which ended with a crucial covering tackle by Nevin Spence on O’Brien.
The men in blue kept the pressure on, opting for a close range scrum from a penalty and, with Ulster caught short for defenders out wide, O’Driscoll and Nacewa put McFadden over in the right corner. The lead remained at eight points as Sexton’s conversion attempt slammed off the right hand post.
Ulster had been frustrated by a series of handling errors but they executed well late in the half, Pienaar initiating an attack which saw Adam D’Arcy find touch five metres out from the Leinster try-line. But the hosts held out and a Heaslip and O’Brien-inspired break set up Sexton for a successful penalty right on half-time.
The strong-running Robbie Diack helped tee up Ian Humphreys for a long range 45th-minute penalty which he drew just wide of the uprights. Simon Danielli, Pedrie Wannenburg and Spence carried well as Ulster started to find some rhythm in attack, with Pienaar probing from much quicker ball.
Darren Cave was involved twice before Leinster won a penalty at the breakdown and as the physicality went up some notches, Sexton and a hobbling Strauss were withdrawn from the fray.
With 18 minutes remaining, Pienaar opened Ulster’s account with a stunning penalty goal from close to the visitors’ 10-metre line. The next score was hugely important and it went to Leinster, with Fitzgerald worming his way past Pienaar and Wannenburg before showing great pace to scoot in under the posts.
McFadden converted and Ulster’s late series of attacks went unrewarded as Leinster booked their spot in the May 28th decider for a second successive Magners League final appearance.
Scoring sequence:Sexton pen 3-0; 25 mins McFadden try 8-0; 40 mins Sexton pen 11-0; (half-time 11-0); 61 mins Pienaar pen 11-3; 72 mins Fitzgerald try, McFadden con 18-3.
Leinster:I Nacewa; F McFadden, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, I Boss; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, L Cullen (capt), N Hines, S O'Brien, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements:E Reddan for Boss (31 mins), S Wright for Ross (33 mins), D Kearney for O'Driscoll (half-time), I Madigan for Sexton, J Harris-Wright for Strauss (both 56 mins), H van der Meuwe for Healy (62 mins), K McLaughlin for O'Brien, D Toner for Cullen (both 73 mins).
Ulster:A D'Arcy; C Gilroy, D Cave, N Spence, S Danielli; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best (capt), D Fitzpatrick, J Muller, T Barker, P Wannenburg, C Henry, R Diack. Replacements:J Cronin for Fitzpatricdk (half-time), P Marshall for Humphreys (58 mins). Not used:A Kyriacou, P McAllister, N McComb, T Anderson, I Whitten, C Gaston.
Referee:George Clancy (IRFU).
