Bizarre finish as Ulster celebrate rare Dublin win

Leinster 18 Ulster 22

And we are not just talking Ulster players and supporters here.

League officials must also have said a silent prayer when television match official Jude Quinn confirmed Leinster had not scored a match-winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time — having been consulted by referee George Clancy after the Limerick official had blown the final whistle.

By then Ulster players were jumping in the air celebrating their first win in Dublin since 1999 and the Leinster men were slumped as replacements and others rushed on to the field. It wasn’t quite Offaly v Clare in the 1998 All-Ireland hurling semi-final, but we can only guess the pandemonium which would havebroken out had Sean Cronin been awarded a try for his last-gasp surge.

“He actually said ‘ball held up, end of the game’. I celebrated and then suddenly I heard TMO. I don’t know what the rules are,” said Ulster skipper Johann Muller afterwards.

“So we’re still not sure if we’ve won the game!” said his coach Mark Anscombe. “We might get a call tonight to say that they’ve gone through the video! He has a chance to go upstairs but not after he blows the whistle for full time. And he called full time. I don’t make the rules.”

It was a bizarre end to a sometimes tetchy contest but Ulster, two tries to nil, deserved their triumph and while neither coach disputed that, the two Kiwis had sharply contrasting views on what transpired over the last ten minutes when Leinster pummelled the visitors’ line but could not get over and a succession of scrums did not yield a penalty try.

That rankled with Leinster coach Joe Schmidt. “We conceded a penalty try in Ravenhill off the first five metre scrum that went down. I’m not sure how many went down there. Have a look how long their front row stayed up at the end and how quickly they were dead flat on the ground? All we ask for is consistency. “To say we are frustrated is an understatement. But at the same time they had done a great job getting the scoreboard ticking over earlier than that. We were chasing the game.”

Anscombe, inevitably, had a different take on what happened in those minutes. “Did they, why?” was his initial reaction to Leinster’s notion they should have a penalty try.

“One thing we talked about before the game is the amount of obstruction and taking out of players that they do. Not one guy got pinged today and I could show you half a dozen examples of it.

“ I thought our discipline was outstanding on the line and I didn’t see anything there that warranted a try.”

Schmit reckoned the loss will cost them a home semi-final but Leinster, who lost Gordon D’Arcy to illness on Saturday, rarely looked like cracking the Ulster defence and were thankful to Ian Madigan, who hit six from six, for keeping them in the game.

Two Madigan efforts pushed them 6-0 in front after 18 minutes before Ulster’s pressure finally yielded a reward when they got in for the opening try.

A superb offload by Dan Tuohy was crucial to the score and while Nick Williams was stopped, they recycled well and Paddy Jackson’s looping pass saw Robbie Diack drive past Dave Kearney to score in the left corner after 22 minutes.

Yet Ulster still trailed 12-9 at the break after another from Madigan and one from the impressive Ruan Pienaar, who was handed the kicking duties instead of Paddy Jackson.

Madigan extended the lead eight minutes after the restart but Ulster reduced the margin to 15-14 after 59 minutes with a brace of penalties.

Ulster took the lead for the first time after 62 minutes when Andrew Trimble stretched the cover before Pienaar sent Iain Henderson over in the right corner.

Pienaar was again unsuccessful with the touchline conversion and Madigan set up a grandstand finish when he reduced the margin to 19-18 with twelve minutes remaining with his sixth penalty.

However, it was Ulster who hit back and Pienaar put four between them three minutes later with a superb penalty from 43 metres on the right, leaving Leinster requiring a try to win the match. They came up just short in that requirement and suffered their first home league defeat of the season.

Scorers for Leinster: Pens: Madigan (6).

Scorers for Ulster: Tries: Diack, Henderson, Pens: Pienaar (4).

LEINSTER: R Kearney; D Kearney, B Macken, A Goodman, I Nacewa; I Madigan, I Boss; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross; Q Roux, D Toner; K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

Replacements: A Conway for Macken 36, L Cullen for Roux 51, S Cronin for Strauss 57, J Hagan for Ross 66, R Ruddock for McLaughlin 66, J Cooney for Boss 74.

ULSTER: J Payne; A Trimble, D Cave, S Olding, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best, R Lutton; J Muller, D Tuohy; R Diack, C Henry, N Williams.

Replacements: I Henderson for Williams 57, R Wilson for Henry 63, K McCall for Lutton 69, C Black for Court, 70, P Nelson for Trimble 71.

Referee: G Clancy (IRFU).