Leinster 30
Ulster 15
THE DRIVE FOR five continues.
It was never going to be pretty against Ulster with rain falling before and throughout this Champions Cup round of 16 tie in Dublin. But Leo Cullen’s side never looked perturbed in a game they grabbed control of after 20 minutes. Their power up front and efficiency in nearly every other area was impressive as they scored three tries.
Leinster march on to a home quarter-final against Leicester Tigers back here at the Aviva Stadium next Friday evening.
They will have noted that defending champions La Rochelle just about avoided being dethroned this evening and remain on course for collision with Leinster in the final in Dublin in May.
Ronan O’Gara’s side, who beat Leinster in last season’s decider and have become their nemesis, managed to squeeze out a late, late win in their round of 16 tie at home to Gloucester. With a man in the bin, they crossed through Teddy Thomas.
So Leinster will still have to beat some good teams if they are to claim this European crown, possibly including Toulouse in Dublin if they reach the semi-finals, but this was a pleasing evening’s work against their inter-provincial rivals.
The outstanding Ryan Baird, influential Jamison Gibson-Park, and muscular Andrew Porter all crossed for tries and though Ulster struck back through James Hume and Rob Herring, they were second best here.
Their cause wasn’t helped by two second-half yellow cards, but those sin-binnings had been coming even in the first half as Leinster piled the pressure on. Whenever they needed to shift up a gear, the home side had it within their armoury.
Captain James Ryan was among those to make big plays as Leinster dominated the exchanges up front. Their might in that area was underlined by being able to bring players as good as Jason Jenkins, Michael Ala’alatoa, and Scott Penny off the bench.
Number eight Jack Conan was named player of the match but it could have gone to a few different Leinster forwards. They turn their attention to Leicester next weekend when they will be heavy favourites again.
With the rain coming down, the opening exchanges were error-strewn but Ulster had the better of it as Leinster made uncharacteristic mistakes, even the ultra-solid Hugo Keenan knocking the ball on in his own 22 after a Billy Burns grubber.
From the subsequent scrum, Leinster gave up two penalties in quick succession and Ulster scrum-half Nathan Doak kicked his side into an 11th-minute lead.
Leinster responded immediately, though, as Ross Byrne hung his restart on Ulster fullback Mike Lowry, the home side counter-rucking to force the visitors to seal off the breakdown. Byrne slotted the three points from straight in front.
After an evenly-balanced first quarter, Leinster took control in the 20th minute. Tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong won a scrum penalty against Rory Sutherland and Byrne nudged his team to within 10 metres of the Ulster line on the right-hand side.
With centre Robbie Henshaw lifting at the front of the lineout, Jack Conan won it to launch a swift series of powerful carries from skipper Ryan, Ross Molony, and Baird, who thundered through David McCann and Sutherland for a TMO-confirmed try converted by Byrne.
The out-half extended Leinster’s lead to 13-3 soon after when the Ulster pack gave up another maul penalty, but Dan McFarland’s men responded impressively.
Ireland international Jacob Stockdale, who hasn’t worn the green jersey since the summer of 2021, launched a garryowen into the Leinster half and followed up to regather it uncontested. With the Leinster defence caught disorganised and narrow, out-half Burns stroked a cross-field kick to centre Hume in acres of space on the right.
Hume stepped back inside James Lowe to finish and though Doak’s conversion effort was wide, Ulster were back in the game at 13-8.
Byrne had a miss off the tee on the half-hour mark after what was a tough penalty against the combative Stuart McCloskey for side entry, but Leinster finished the half in ominous fashion as their pack turned up the power in the closing five minutes.
Conan appeared to have scored from one of Leinster’s clever five-metre tap penalty plays but with Byrne lining up his conversion, a replay suggested that Conan had knocked on. Ulster protested, referee Luke Pearce reviewed, and it was chalked off.
Leinster had been playing penalty advantage and went into the left corner this time, but Ulster’s ferocious tacking just about kept them out. There was another offside penalty against Tom O’Toole, however, and Leinster opted to pop over the three points for an eight-point margin at half-time. Pearce gave Ulster a team warning over their discipline but they remained at 15 men.
16-8 to the good, Leinster had a promising start to the second half as the explosive Baird won a breakdown turnover penalty but they couldn’t break the determined, physical Ulster defence on the ensuing attacking passage, which ended with Porter knocking on as the rain continued to fall.
Gibson-Park’s failure to roll away from a tackle then allowed Ulster a visit into the Leinster 22. It looked like a prime chance to finally get their maul rolling, but second row Ryan picked off Herring’s throw at the front and Leinster cleared.
Cullen’s side continued to target Lowry in the air and he dropped a high ball in his 22 with 50 minutes on the clock, only for Byrne to lose the ball forward as he was tackled while attempting to cross-kick from the turnover.
Still, Ryan managed to block replacement scrum-half John Cooney’s attempted clearance into touch and then pinch the wobbly Ulster lineout in their 22.
Leinster piled the pressure on and when Hume gave up yet another Ulster penalty within metres of the tryline, Pearce sent him to the sin-bin. Leinster sensed their opportunity.
Their forwards went to work off the five-metre lineout, grinding out a penalty advantage and though Henshaw’s attempt to drop a pass out the back to Byrne went to ground, Gibson-Park hovered it up, broke Stockdale’s tackle and gleefully darted past McCloskey to score under the posts. Byrne’s extras had them 23-8 ahead.
It was the old reliable, the maul, that gave 14-man Ulster a lifeline heading towards the final quarter. Leinster’s poor discipline handed them a five-metre lineout and they marched forward for hooker Herring to dot down.
Cooney nailed the conversion for 23-15.
Byrne got too much on his restart and it rolled all the way dead, giving Ulster a scrum in midfield and a chance to ride their new-found momentum, but Leinster said no. Furlong, Dan Sheehan, Porter and co. produced an almighty shove to drive Ulster clean off their own ball and Pearce awarded the penalty.
Outside centre Jimmy O’Brien was held up the first time Leinster surged at the line but Porter forced his way under Duane Vermeulen at the second time of asking and notched their third try just before Hume returned with his team trailing 30-15.
Ulster didn’t stay at 15 for long, with replacement back row Harry Sheridan – impactful until then – shown yellow for making head contact with Byrne. That allowed Leinster to see the game out in peace as La Rochelle just about managed to stay alive over in France. We might see them against each other in another final.
Leinster scorers:
Tries: Ryan Baird, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter
Conversions: Ross Byrne [3 from 3]
Penalties: Ross Byrne [3 from 4]
Ulster scorers:
Tries: James Hume, Rob Herring
Conversions: John Cooney [1 from 1], Nathan Doak [0 from 1]
Penalties: Nathan Doak [1 from 1]
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O’Brien, Robbie Henshaw (Ciarán Frawley ’73), James Lowe; Ross Byrne (Harry Byrne ’73), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath ’67); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy ‘), Dan Sheehan (John McKee ‘), Tadhg Furlong (Michael Ala’alatoa ’64); Ross Molony, James Ryan (captain) (Jason Jenkins ’68); Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier (Scott Penny ’55), Jack Conan.
ULSTER: Mike Lowry; Robert Baloucoune (Ben Moxham ’78), James Hume (yellow card ’52), Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns (Stewart Moore ’55), Nathan Doak (John Cooney ’50); Rory Sutherland (Eric O’Sullivan ’62), Rob Herring (Tom Stewart ’59 – reversal ’58), Tom O’Toole (Jeffery Toomaga-Allen ‘HT); Alan O’Connor (captain), Kieran Treadwell (Marcus Rea ’67); Dave McCann (Harry Sheridan ’47 (yellow card ’69)), Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen
Referee: Luke Pearce [RFU].
Written by Murray Kinsella and posted on the42.ie
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