Fringe men give Schmidt selection headache

TOULOUSE, Northampton and Perpignan may beg to differ but Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin had no hesitation in slapping Leinster with the label of Europe’s best after an Irish derby where most of the thoroughbreds were trained locally.

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.