Tonight at Kingspan Stadium Ulster battled to victory in a fiery interprovincial derby, with tries from Iain Henderson and Craig Gilroy, and 16 points from the boot of Ruan Pienaar, all but eliminating Leinster from the race for a top four Guinness PRO12 finish.
Ulster will enjoy an at least overnight residency atop the competition table on 67 points, with Glasgow Warriors (65 points) and Munster (63) both playing in the course of Saturday.
The win was well-deserved, with Neil Doak’s men bouncing back from an early 10-point deficit thanks to a display of grit, determination, and no little flair from 1 to 23, with man-of-the-match Henderson delivering a particularly powerful and mature performance.
Going into the tie in third place off the back of a bonus-point win in Connacht, Ulster named an unchanged matchday squad featuring no fewer than 13 Ireland internationals.
Louis Ludik, author of three tries in his last two outings, started at full-back with Tommy Bowe and Guinness Pro12 leading try-scorer Gilroy on the wings. Jared Payne and Darren Cave continued their partnership in the centre, with Paddy Jackson and Pienaar once again teaming up at out- and scrum-half respectively.
The forwards lined up with a front row of Callum Black, captain Rory Best and Wiehahn Herbst ahead of Dan Tuohy and Franco van der Merwe in the second row, with an all-international back row of Henderson, Chris Henry and Roger Wilson.
With Leinster going into the game 10 points adrift of tonight’s opponents – and eight behind fourth-placed Ospreys – a fantastic start saw Jimmy Gopperth beat three men inside the first 30 seconds and earn the visitors an early penalty which the out-half elected to kick to touch. Staunch Ulster defence post-lineout held the blue waves at bay, and as Ulster infringed again, Gopperth this time took the three points for an early lead.
Lost lineout ball put Ulster under more pressure on seven minutes, and as Richardt Strauss seized on a ball which just eluded Henderson, quick hands from Sean O’Brien set free Ben Te’o, who dodged challenges from Wilson, Gilroy and Ludik to ground the score.
The action followed thick and fast, with a Gopperth conversion and a missed Pienaar penalty coming in quick succession before Jackson burst through the Leinster rearguard on 13 minutes, creating the momentum for a move which saw an agile retrieval from Ludik and quick recycling from Pienaar release Henderson inside the ‘22’ for a clear run to the line. Pienaar converted the score, restoring parity moments later with a second penalty.
To close off an opening period which featured virtually every imagineable incident, O’Brien then saw himself exiled to the sinbin on the 20-minute mark for reckless play as he lifted Henderson in the air and threw him to the ground with scant regard for the player’s welfare.
Jackson kicked for touch and, with the Ulster lineout this time firing on all cylinders, good approach play promised much until Wilson knocked on a ball delivered at speed.
A second off-target penalty from Pienaar on the half-hour did little to dampen Ulster spirits for, with Payne pulling the strings in midfield and Henderson clearly in bullish ball-carrying form, the hosts probed without relent, a quickly-taken tap-penalty from Pienaar almost catching the Leinstermen flat-footed.
The Ulster reward for sustained possession came two minutes before the interval, Pienaar slotting over a central penalty to give his side the lead for the first time in the encounter.
Half-Time Score Ulster 13 Leinster 10
Another dynamic burst from Gopperth 30 seconds from the restart set the tone for the second period as it had the first, but Ulster weathered a good 10 minutes of Leinster pressure manfully and eventually cleared their lines through a hard-earned penalty.
Stuart McCloskey entered the fray on 52 minutes in place of Cave, recipient of a heavy tackle as Ulster battled to penetrate the blue ‘22’, and the game continued at a frantic pace with the Gilroy grounding of a Jackson dink to the corner ruled out by the TMO as the winger, after collecting the ball in the air, just strayed a foot in touch before getting the ball down.
A Leinster knock-on – one of several in the second half – gifted Ulster the scrum on the visitors’ 10-metre line, and a good dart from Ludik then Bowe drew a penalty which saw Kearney sinbinned for going off his feet, and Pienaar extend the Ulster lead to six points.
Six became nine as the Springbok slotted home a sweet penalty from just over half-way on 66 minutes, before Gilroy put the result beyond any doubt six minutes later with his 13th try of the season, off Jackson’s inside pass as Bowe ran a diagonal dummy line.
Pienaar dispatched the conversion and, although replacement prop Andrew Warwick saw a late yellow card as Ulster used both fair means and foul to keep the final Leinster charges at bay, the 14 men resisted each subsequent wave with no further points conceded.
Victories for Ulster in their final two season proper matches – at home to Munster and away to Glasgow – would now ensure the advantage of a home play-off semi-final, and give the province every chance of contesting the Pro12 final in Belfast come May 30th.
Full-Time Score Ulster 26 Leinster 10
Ulster (15 – 9) L Ludik; T Bowe, J Payne, D Cave, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar (1 – 8) C Black, R Best (c), W Herbst, D Tuohy, F van der Merwe, I Henderson, C Henry, R Wilson
Replacements (16 – 23) R Herring, A Warwick, B Ross, R Diack, C Ross, P Marshall, I Humphreys, S McCloskey
Leinster (15 – 9) R Kearney; Z Kirchner, B Te’o, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Gopperth, I Boss (1 – 8) C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, D Toner, M McCarthy, D Ryan, S O’Brien, J Heaslip (c)
Replacements (16 – 23) S Cronin, J McGrath, T Furlong, B Marshall, J Murphy, E Reddan, I Madigan, D Fanning
Match report by Neil Carnduff