Cheika unimpressed by lacklustre Leinster
Tries from Rob Kearney and Jamie Heaslip either side of half-time saw them keep Brian McLaughlin’s depleted side at arm’s length.
Ulster were gutsy but the decision by their coach to invoke the IRFU player management strategy meant that this interpro was shorn of its edge, with no chance for Paddy Wallace, Stephen Ferris, Andrew Trimble and Tom Court to take part.
The result was in the bag for Michael Cheika and he admitted his largely full-strength side were disappointed they hadn’t played better.
“We didn’t play well the whole game,” he said. “We were physical enough but we didn’t get any shape about our attack. We were indisciplined in our defence, we gave away penalties when we didn’t need to.
“We could have just sat there and defended the line and worked hard at our defence. I thought our physicality was there, it was just the work-rate wasn’t there to create the conditions for the game that we wanted to play.
“We know there’s a broken schedule over this period and you don’t get the training days you want. But still, you go into our dressing-room afterwards and it was like we lost. That’s not the standard we want to have.”
Cheika admitted that his side were fortunate that Ulster had kept their powder dry for the clash, and he said his players shouldn’t have allowed the teamsheet affect their preparations.
“That shouldn’t be the case,” he said. “Names mean nothing. It’s the team you play every time. It was a little disappointing because one of the things we’ve always had in these derbies is they’ve been full-strength affairs.
“I suppose that’s a bit of a side-effect of the resting policy that this wasn’t a full fixture. They didn’t have all their players. I don’t know, maybe we were lucky because if they did have all their players, we wouldn’t have won.
“It is a shame because the interprovincial fixtures are special ones and it would be nice if everyone was playing in them. They’re good for the crowds, in particular when you get a full house.”
Blindside Kevin McLaughlin missed out on a chance to test himself against a direct international opponent with Ferris’s absence. But his focus after the game was purely on a disappointing night’s work.
“Obviously we had too good a Christmas and took our foot off the pedal a little bit,” he said.
“We spoke this week about putting our feet up on Christmas Day and enjoying it. But when the 26th comes, getting back into work, into our culture. No messing around.
“We’re trying to build a team which has its focus on match day regardless of the situation. Other elements maybe got into our head. Although we got the four points, we felt like we weren’t quite at our standards.”
That lapse in standards meant that they were facing into a half-time rollicking from Cheika, tied at 3-3 and having let Ulster off the hook when TJ Anderson was sin-binned.
Ulster had looked the more threatening, but from clean McLaughlin ball at the lineout, Gordon D’Arcy found Rob Kearney with a forward looking pass and the Lions full-back streaked through under the posts to give them a seven-point lead at the break.
And Kearney then capitalised on Chris Henry’s hesitation under the high ball after the break to steal and pass to Heaslip who careered down the left wing, brushing newcomer Jamie Smith aside to score under the posts.
Ulster pushed for a deserved bonus point, but ultimately poor final passes and Simon Danielli experiencing some white line fever was their undoing.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O’Driscoll (F McFadden 67), G D’Arcy, I Nacewa; S Berne, E Reddan; C Healy, J Fogarty (B Jackman 52), S Wright (M Ross 33); L Cullen, M O’Kelly (D Toner 80); K McLaughlin, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.
ULSTER: J Smith; T Nagusa, D Cave (J Shiels 30), I Whitten, S Danielli; N O’Connor (I Humphreys 40), I Boss; B Young, N Brady (A Kyriacou 72), BJ Botha (D Fitzpatrick 58); E O’Donoghue, D Tuohy; TJ Anderson, W Faloon, C Henry (R Caldwell 68).
Referee: G Clancy (IRFU).
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