Leinster forced to battle by Ulster’s brave tyros

THE result was inevitable as soon as Ulster named a second string team staffed largely by rookies.

But, despite winning well in the end, this match wasn’t the comfortable cakewalk for Leinster that everyone expected it to be.

Ulster’s youngsters flung themselves into every physical collision with real grit and enthusiasm, and it was only in the final 15 minutes of the match when their energy levels flagged that they were finally taken apart by Leinster.

“We felt they’d be pretty tough because they’d have a lot of enthusiasm,” said Leinster Coach Joe Schmidt. “It’s pretty hard to drive the mental preparation of your team for games like that because you have everything to lose and not a lot to gain.

“In the end we ticked the key box of getting the five points, so I’m delighted with that. It does give us a bit of a buffer on the table with two tough away games coming up.”

Ulster’s lambs gave early notice that they wouldn’t be going meekly to their slaughter. In the first 15 minutes they took the match to a sluggish looking Leinster team and at one point got within a few yards of the match’s first try.

Once Leinster warmed to the task though, they slowly pushed Ulster back. The home team looked stronger in contact than the visitors, and whenever a Leinster forward put his head down and ran in straight lines he almost always got a couple of yards past the gain-line.

Last-ditch tackling saved Ulster on a couple of occasions when Leinster’s Cian Healy and Leo Auva’a crossed the try-line but were unable to touch down.

The breakthrough finally arrived after 17 minutes when flying winger Fionn Carr got on the end of a flowing back-line move that outflanked the stretched Ulster defence to score.

Fergus McFadden supplied the conversion and was just as accurate eight minutes later when he also added the bonus points after Sean Cronin crossed for Leinster’s second try.

Again, it only required some quick lateral movement to break Ulster’s resolve as the burly hooker charged onto Ian Madigan’s superbly flighted skip-pass.

Credit to Ulster, just when it looked like the floodgates were about to swing open they stemmed the tide by pushing Leinster back and winning two penalties that James McKinney kicked.

Leinster roused themselves just before the break though, the impressive Leo Auva’a showcasing his bristling natural strength by smashing his way past a couple of Ulster tacklers before making things easy for McFadden by touching down under the posts.

Ulster proved they still had plenty of fight left in them by scoring the first try of the second half when James McKinney set Chris Cochrane free and the long-limbed winger powered his way past a couple of Leinster tacklers to touch down.

Leinster suddenly looked a little rattled, and Fergus McFadden proved that wasn’t an illusion when he shanked a penalty wide from straight in front of the posts.

In the final 15 minutes of the match they eventually re-found their mojo by scoring three tries.

It was a penalty try that secured the bonus point for Leinster when referee Peter Fitzgibbon finally lost patience with the Ulster scrum as it collapsed on its own line for the third time in a row.

The Ulster defence was visibly tiring with every passing minute, and Leinster out-half Ian Madigan took advantage and raced over for a try.

The home team ended the match with one final exclamation mark when substitute Jamie Hagan powered his way over from close range, but though they won in the end by 29 points, it wasn’t the most clinical display ever by Schmidt’s team.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: F Carr, S Cronin, L Auva’a, I Madigan, J Hagan, pen try. Cons: F McFadden (6)

Scorers for Ulster: Tries: C Cochrane. Pens: J McKinney (2). Cons: J McKinney (1)

LEINSTER: L Fitzgerald; D Kearney (E O’Malley 63), F McFadden, G D’Arcy, F Carr (A Conway 51); I Madigan, E Reddan (I Boss 74); C Healy (J McGrath 69), S Cronin (R Strauss 64), M Ross (J Hagan 69); D Browne (R Ruddock 57), D Toner (S Sykes (74); K McLaughlin, S Jennings, L Auva’a.

ULSTER: P Nelson; C Cochrane, M Allen, C Farrell, C Gaston; J McKinney (S Olden69), P Marshall (I Porter 69; C Black (J Cronin 69), N Brady (N Annett 74), A Macklin (T Court ht); T Barker (C Joyce 21 (J Simpson 74)), L Stevenson; N McComb, A Birch, R Diack.

Referee: P Fitzgibbon (IRFU)