News

Ulster A 28 Leinster A 43

7th September 2018
Ulster A, sponsored by CD Group, began their Celtic Cup campaign with a defeat to Leinster A at Malone RFC on Friday evening. The home side were the first off the mark after 15 minutes as centre James Hume, on his 20th birthday, took a crash ball off an attacking scrum 10 metres out and powered over, with fly-half Johnny McPhillips slotting the conversion. Leinster responded on 24 minutes when fly-half Harry Byrne crossed in the right corner after a series of punishing phases inside the Ulster 22, before adding the conversion himself. 6 minutes later the visiting pack powered over for their second try, with flanker Scott Penny coming back up with the ball, and Byrne successful once again with the conversion. Within 3 minutes Leinster added their third converted try – prop Vakh Abdaladze made plenty of ground with a break through the Ulster midfield before offloading to centre Conor O'Brien to race in. Leinster added their fourth on the final play of the first half when hooker Ronan Kelleher crossed the whitewash after a series of punishing pick and drives. Byrne’s conversion made it 7-28 at the interval. The men in blue notched the first score of the second half on 51 minutes when Turner and O'Brien combined before releasing Michael Silvester on the right wing. Ulster responded with two tries of their own shortly after. Firstly, Matthew Rea rumbled over from close range following the break from Greg Jones, then winger Aaron Sexton darted in to score after taking the offload from Chris Henry. McPhillips successfully converted both tries. A Byrne penalty just after the hour mark pushed out Leinster’s lead to 21-36. Hume gave Ulster a lifeline, and a bonus point, on 67 minutes – perfectly timing the intercept and running in from 60 metres out, with McPhillips superbly converting from the left touchline. Leinster struck the final killer blow 4 minutes from full-time when replacement hooker Dan Sheehan powered over from close range, with Byrne notching another conversion. Next up for Ulster A is the visit of Scarlets A to Shaw’s Bridge next Friday 14th September, kick-off 7.00pm.