Leinster 8 Ulster 3
A win is a win is a win, and Leinster will be grateful for that much, all the more so in the midst of their lack of form and an unrelentingly tough mid-season schedule. They travel next to Glasgow, another national bulk supplier seemingly suffering a hangover.
The post-World Cup hangover has seemingly extended to the supporters, judging by the plentiful number of empty blue seats on all four sides of the ground for what must have been the lowest attendance at a Leinster-Ulster derby in many years. On a bitterly cold night, no official attendance was announced.
Leinster brought more intent, had more possession, played with more width and huffed and puffed, but their execution let them down and prevented them from putting Ulster away. Once again the young guns brought good impact off Leinster’s bench, and none more so from the start than Josh van der Flier, whose volume of work – notable in defence and the ruck – was little short of remarkable. Tthere were also energetic contributions from Devin Toner and Luke Fitzgerald.
“Probably a win,” was the main plus out of the performance according to Leo Cullen. “I thought the intent and some of the opportunities we created; they were the main things for me. The ‘D’ (defence) was a big part of it. We conceded three points and that’s a huge positive. We conceded 33 against Wasps, so there was a lot more intent in our hits in defence this week, to that’s pleasing.”
“I thought we did some really good things in the first-half. We started the second half well even, and got over their try line and had a couple of five metre scrums. We need to be better at capitalising on those,” he acknowledged with some frustration.
Too much of Leinster’s passing made the recipient check, the exception
being when Johnny Sexton pulled the trigger on his long flat passes or launched Ben Te’o up the middle it was a different matter. There were also cross-kicks and a chip and gather, strong defence and a choke tackle from the out-half in an encouraging sign of a return to form before being hauled off after 67 minutes, having “taken a bang”. His replacement Noel Reid soon followed, wheeled off on a mobile stretcher with an injured ankle, though Cullen could not speculate as to the extent of the injury.
Ulster didn’t contribute much save for a few neat if largely unproductive passages of play, and a hard-working defence. One of the undoubted redeeming features was Stuart McCloskey, who ripped the ball in contact three times, stopped Ben Te’o in his tracks and carried strongly. He really does look the real deal, while Rory Best was his usual steadfast self.
“It’s thoroughly disappointing,” admitted Les Kiss. “But I’ve just got to say the second half was a cracking game and if we can put that into our first-half performances, we’re going to be a lot more dangerous.” Having dropped to seventh in table, he admitted next Friday’s game at home to Edinburgh is “massive.”
As well as a productive line-out, Leinster atoned for last week’s scrum debacle. Jack McGrath and co made a statement of intent at the first scrum, and when Fitzgerald countered off a poor box kick by Ruan Pienaar, Leinster went into their recycling rhythm and Luke McGrath played for a penalty off Wiehahn Herbst – more a statue than a lazy runner – for Sexton to open the scoring.
Jackson missed a routine penalty before levelling with his second shot at goal but as the half wore on so did Leinster’s supremacy. Sexton having located Fitzgerald with a cross kick direct from a line-out maul, Sexton hit his winger with an excellent long skip pass, and Fitzgerald’s well weighted grubber up the line led to the first of three attacking lone-outs.
That led to a scrum, from which Luke McGrath darted and after some pick and goes, Isa Nacewa’s poor pass failed to find Zane Kirchener. Robbie Diack pilfered the second, but when Sexton tapped the ball into the corner, the Leinster pack transferred the ball on landing from Jamie Heaslip’s take at the front, and sustained the drive infield for Sean Cronin to score.
Leinster should have had another try after the turnaround. Rhys Ruddock broke the tackles of Sean Reidy and Dan Tuohy to almost reach the line, and from the recycle Sexton’s hard skip pass would have put Te’o over had he not knocked on.
Next Furlong made the bust, hopping to his feet after initially being tackled by Nick Williams, but after Jack McGrath was held up over the line, Leinster’s execution failed them again
Sensing their reprieve, Jackson worked a move to outflank Leinster’s narrow defence through Andrew Trinble and then Ian Henderson and Robbie Diack charged off the ensuing line-out maul. But the latter was chop tackled by Mike McCarthy for Marty Moore to win the poacher’s penalty.
When Ulster came knocking they were repelled by a succession of big hits, notably by van der Flier, and in particular a huge hit on Roger Wilson for a turnover.
Although scrappy, a big defensive read and tackle by Garry Ringrose soon after his introduction, and a grubber to the corner by Nacewa, kept Leinster on top. After a second missed drop goal by Ian Madigan, there was time for Trimble to rip the ball from Te’o as Ulster went through the phases from deep. But, 40 metres out, Chris Henry knocked on and that was that.
Alas, it was a fitting finale.
Scoring sequence: 6 mins Sexton pen 3-0; 14 mins Jackson pen 3-3; 37 mins Cronin try 8-3; (half-time 8-3).
Leinster: I Nacewa; Z Kirchner, B Te'o, I Madigan, L Fitzgerald, J Sexton, L McGrath; J McGrath, S Cronin, T Furlong, D Toner, M McCarthy, R Ruddock, J van der Flier, J Heaslip (capt). Replacements – E Reddan for L McGrath (32 mins), M Moore for Furlong (50 mins), J Tracy for Cronin, P Dooley for J McGrath (both 60 mins), R Molony for McCarthy, N Reid for Sexton (both 67 mins), G Ringrose for Reid (73 mins).
Ulster: P Nelson: A Trimble, D Cave, S McCloskey, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; K McCall, R Best (captain), W Herbst, I Henderson, D Tuohy, R Diack, S Reidy, N Williams. Replacements – C Henry for Reidy (43 mins) , R Lutton for Herbst (55 mins), R Wilson for Diack (60 mins), P Marshall for Pienaar, L Ludik for McCloskey (both 73 mins).R Herring for Best (75 mins).
Referee: John Lacey (IRFU).
