Fringe men give Schmidt selection headache
The eight-point gap that separated the sides did little justice to the home team which had a try bonus point in the bag four minutes before half-time and pulled the shutters down four minutes after the restart when 22 points to the good.
Leinster stunned their neighbours with tries from Richardt Strauss, Luke Fitzgerald, Shane Horgan and Heinke van der Merwe in that first period with Horgan’s second taking the score to 34-12 and leaving Ulster to play for pride.
It capped a perfect weekend for Joe Schmidt’s side who leapfrogged the Ospreys into second spot on the Magners League table thanks to the Welsh side’s loss to the Dragons.
With a trip to bottom of the table Aironi next week and a final round home tie with Glasgow to come, the Irish province looks odds on to book a home berth and avoid a semi-final trip to Thomond Park.
“I think nine points would get us a home semi now,” said Schmidt.
“We are two points clear of Ulster and three clear of Ospreys and, with Scarlets losing, they kind of drop off a little bit. Cardiff have a game in hand but they are five points behind us.”
With destiny in their hands, Schmidt can begin plotting in more detail for Toulouse’s visit to the Aviva at the month’s end. Schmidt made seven unforced changes for the game, resting Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Mike Ross and Cian Healy and yet his side could still play with a swagger and zest Ulster were unable to stop.
It was only when Schmidt began to empty his bench and Sean O’Brien was shown a yellow that Pedrie Wannenburg — himself sin-binned earlier — and Craig Gilroy managed to score and make a game of it.
“We dropped off a few things making so many changes, especially having made so many of them in batches,” said Schmidt. “We just lost a little bit of our shape and cohesiveness but we kept enough fluidity to hang in there.
“I thought our defensive work was pretty good again. Ulster are a good side and they did engineer a couple of tries and while that was frustrating it was great that we denied them a bonus point there at the finish.”
In addition, Shane Jennings and Stan Wright got much-needed game-time under their belts, Fergus McFadden and Eoin O’Malley gave a glimpse of the future at centre and Fitzgerald showed a welcome return to form.
For Ulster, the defeat confirms what the previous week’s Heineken Cup exit against Northampton suggested — they lack consistency and strength in depth. Missing first-choice locks Johann Muller and Dan Tuohy, they were hampered by the early exit of Munster-bound prop BJ Botha and fell short in terms of physicality and execution. A home tie with Connacht awaits and they wrap their regular season with a trip to Dragons but, should they claim two for two, they will return to Dublin for a semi-final showdown.
“I’ll talk to you about that when we are there. We have still got two big games. We have got Connacht at home and we have got to go to Dragons and Dragons beat the Ospreys so that’s not going to be a gimme either,” said McLaughlin.
LEINSTER: I Nacewa; S Horgan, E O’Malley, F McFadden, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, I Boss; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, S Wright; L Cullen, D Toner; K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Heaslip.
Replacements: N Hines for Cullen (48), S O’Brien for McLaughlin (48), I Madigan for Sexton (50), D Kearney for Nacewa (50), M Ross for Wright (56), J Harris-Wright for Strauss (56), C Healy for Jennings (77).
ULSTER: A D’Arcy; A Trimble, N Spence, P Wallace, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; P McAllister, R Best, BJ Botha; T Barker, D Tuohy; R Diack, C Henry, P Wannenburg.
Replacements: J Cronin for Botha (34), D Cave for Spence (50), W Faloon for Diack (50), B Young for McAllister (61), N McComb for Barker (61), C Gaston for D’Arcy (66), P Marshall for Humphreys (72), A Kyriacou for Best (77).
Referee: P Guazere (FFR).
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