By Neil Carnduff
Leinster won the interprovincial battle at the RDS, exorcising their poor recent run of two consecutive defeats to outscore Ulster by 19 points to 6, and relegate Mark Anscombe’s side to fifth place in the RaboDirect Pro12.
The Dublin-based province controlled the vast majority of the encounter and Ulster, showcasing their homegrown talent pool with a fully Irish-qualified starting XV, struggled to keep pace with the domestic champions until the final 10 minutes of the game, when better decision-making and a slice of good fortune could have at least salvaged a losing bonus point.
Paddy Jackson got Ulster off to a perfect start with a long-distance penalty within the opening 60 seconds, nullified by Jimmy Gopperth two minutes later once Roger Wilson had been penalised for a slow roll-away in the tackle. With Leinster all guns blazing straight from the restart, Luke Fitzgerald somehow collected his own punt down the wing despite starting his chase well behind Jackson and Luke Marshall, and Ulster were fortunate not to fall behind when a close-range Gopperth penalty just missed the posts.
Ulster did well to absorb 10 minutes of intense Leinster pressure before enjoying a brief foray in the blue half, but the hosts rapidly broke up the visitors’ move and forced an offside which Gopperth once again failed to convert into points. However a further infringement from Ulster on 23 minutes, with Lewis Stevenson pulled up for going off his feet, got Leinster into a promising position via the lineout, until Marshall and Andrew Trimble colluded well to snatch possession and clear.
Nevertheless, Leinster continued to dominate both possession and territory as the clock hit the half-hour mark, penetrating into the Ulster ‘22’ repeatedly, to be frustrated only by superlative tackling from the last line of the Ulster defence on each occasion. Then, on 33 minutes, Jackson had the impudence to kick his side into the lead well against the run of play, capitalising on a rare Leinster error just inside their half to direct a fine strike through the wind and between the posts.
Sean Doyle paid the price for repeated infringement in the tackle by his team with a yellow card on 35 minutes, and Leinster wasted no time in taking advantage, Jordi Murphy powering through tackles from Trimble and Ricky Andrew to ground the try in the left-hand corner after a characteristically quicksilver burst from deep by Fitzgerald.
Gopperth converted neatly from an acute angle, and Ulster were relieved to hear the half-time whistle as Zane Kirchner and Sean O’Brien both gained good ground in the dying seconds before the latter was just forced out of play short of the line.
Half-Time Score Leinster 10 Ulster 6
Ulster began to show a little more as the second period opened, but errors both in the lineout, and in open play with passes going awry, stymied any chances they may have hoped to construct, and gifted possession back to their interpro rivals on 47 minutes. Gopperth then punished an offside from Darren Cave with his second successful penalty, prompting Mark Anscombe to introduce two big hitters in Jared Payne and Ruan Pienaar, on for Andrew and Paul Marshall.
The replacements’ impact was felt immediately, Payne carving holes in the Leinster defence in a manner hitherto unseen in the encounter, while Pienaar set about injecting some extra pace into ball distribution in midfield. Despite the improvement in form from the visitors, Leinster were next to score, courtesy once more of Gopperth’s boot, as the lead was extended to 10 points on 56 minutes.
A collector’s item of a knock-on from Payne on the hour mark, followed by a collapsed scrum on the Ulster side, gifted Gopperth a further three right in front of the posts, but a similar fumble from Fitzgerald five minutes later set Ulster on their way, until Rob Herring was penalised five metres from home for holding on to the ball in the tackle.
Two late opportunities for Ulster promised much as they enjoyed their best spell in the final 10 minutes, but the first disintegrated when Gilroy, having crafted the opening with a great surge from half-way, held onto the ball too long with Payne outside him screaming for the final pass, and the second came to naught when the full-back was correctly adjudged to have not quite touched down the bobbling ball from Jackson’s deft kick-on.
Leinster move to second on the back of the win, while Ulster drop to fifth – a downward trend they will hope to redress on Friday 3rd January when league leaders Munster are the guests at Ravenhill.
Full-Time Score Leinster 19 Ulster 6
Leinster (15 – 9) Z Kirchner; D Kearney, B Macken, N Reid, L Fitzgerald; J Gopperth, I Boss (1 – 8) J O’Connell, A Dundon, M Moore, L Cullen (c), M McCarthy, R Ruddock, S O’Brien, J Murphy
Replacements (16 – 23) J Tracy, J McGrath, M Ross, T Denton, D Ryan, L McGrath, I Madigan, D Fanning
Ulster (15 – 9) R Andrew; A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, P Marshall (1 – 8) C Black, R Herring, D Fitzpatrick, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, R Diack (c), S Doyle, R Wilson
Replacements (16 – 23) N Annett, T Court, R Lutton, N McComb, M McComish, R Pienaar, J Payne, M Allen