No stopping Leinster as Ulster count the cost

Ulster may not have any further interest in the RaboDirect Pro 12 play-offs after Leinster won a tepid affair game at Ravenhill last night, but more worrying was the injuries to Paddy Wallace, Chris Henry and Pedrie Wannenburg ahead of next week’s Heineken Cup semi-final against Edinburgh at the Aviva.

Henry limped off with a shin injury in the 18th minute and soon after Wallace staggered from the park after receiving a bang to the head and 10 minutes into the second half Wannenburg, playing his last game at Ravenhill, also limped to the bench with a damaged foot.

Ulster never looked like upstaging the top team in the league although they did storm back after a poor start with skipper Johann Muller getting their only try.

Ulster had barely put a couple of passes together before Leinster stole into the lead in the eighth minute. A series of dangerous drives near the Ulster line resulted in Reddan skipping a pass to O’Brien with the floated ball giving McLaughlin a free run to the line. Sexton converted and it was all uphill for Ulster.

While Ulster’s set pieces were solid, any movement behind the scrum was way below par and gave the Leinster defence little trouble. Leinster were also having the better of things at the breakdown with Ulster giving away three rapid-fire penalties for holding on.

But out of the blue skipper Muller got Ulster right back into it with his first try for the province in the 25th minute. A great pass by Pienaar to Cave and his flicked pass put Wallace away. Muller was put in possession and, after ignoring extra man Robbie Diack, the big lock had no choice but to charge to the line with his outstretched arm crossing the whitewash for a try which was confirmed by the TMO.

Sexton, however, banged over a penalty in the 30th minute after Wannenburg failed to move away after a tackle. Pienaar and Sexton then traded penalties just before the break with Leinster edging it 13-8.

Ulster started the brighter on the resumption and were looking dangerous, but once again were pinged by referee John Lacey who appeared to be over-zealous not releasing after the tackle.

It took Leinster just over the hour to seriously annoy Ulster again and their trip to the red zone paid off with Sexton slotting over a drop goal from in front of the sticks after a succession of quick rucks. The game drafted on without too much happening apart from both benches being emptied with sides matching each other in errors and the ability to shut down dangerous runners, but again, Leinster appeared to be the much superior at the breakdown

Both sides, though, will need to improve dramatically if there iss a trip to Twickenham on the cards next month.

Scorers for Ulster: J Muller try, R Pienaar pen.

Scorers for Leinster: K McLaughlin try; J Sexton 2 pens, con, drop goal

ULSTER: S Terblanche; A Trimble (Humphreys, 75), D Cave, P Wallace (D’Arcy, 33), C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar (Porter, 68); T Court, N Brady (Kyriacou, 60), D Fitzpatrick (Macklin, 55), L Stevenson, J Muller (capt), C Henry (Diack, 18), P Wannenburg (McCombe, 49), W Faloon.

LEINSTER: R Kearney (Carr, 67); D Kearney, B O’Driscoll, F McFadden, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton (Madigan, 71), E Reddan (Boss, 57); C Healy (van der Merwe, 57), R Strauss (Cronin, 60), M Ross (White, 67); L Cullen (capt), B Thorn (Toner, 71); K McLaughlin, D Ryan, S O’Brien (Jennings, 60).

Referee: John Lacey (IRFU).