Leinster grind out spoils in dour derby
A disappointing crowd and a largely disappointing game between two sides scrambling for form, momentum and belief did at least see one of the provinces register a much-needed win, but much work is clearly required in Dublin and Belfast in the weeks and months to come.
There may have been fewer Ireland internationals on view than is usually the case when these two meet — just 17 between the two first XVs — but it was still significant if not exactly startling that there were vast numbers of empty blue seats in all corners of the RDS.
After all, the game kicked off on the back of a week of considerable hand-wringing, given the two provinces’ woes in Europe last weekend, with Leinster having lost a second straight to English opposition and Ulster comprehensively outplayed on home turf by Saracens.
Ulster were at least buoyed by the news that captain Rory Best had signed a new two-year deal midweek while scrum-half Ruan Pienaar’s appearance for a 100th cap was an achievement that deserved a better team performance than that managed by the visitors.
Neither side came close to tripping the light fantastic, but there were at least evident signs of progression in Leinster’s play for the second week running — in the first 50 minutes, at least — after that horror show on their last outing at the RDS when Wasps hit them for 33 points.
It was their scrum that haunted them in Bath last Saturday, the setpiece leading directly to 16 of the 19 points conceded at The Rec, so it was notable that Leo Cullen’s side claimed three penalties from that source in the opening 40 minutes last night.
There were signs too that their dormant attacking game was beginning to find some renewed life, with their determination to spread the ball wide allowing them to make deep inroads into the Ulster line, though here too there is still copious room for improvement.
Even the dependable Isa Nacewa, drafted in at full-back for Rob Kearney, who aggravated a hamstring in training on Thursday, butchered one possible first-half scoring opportunity when skidding a pass to Zane Kirchner along the wet turf as the home side pressed in the Ulster 22.
The gasps in the RDS said it all.
Jonathan Sexton had a similar moment when making no more than a handful of metres with one penalty kick to touch, but there was improvement in the out-half’s distribution game, given the sluggishness he has exhibited since returning from the World Cup.
In the first half alone, he sent one perfect cross-kick to Luke Fitzgerald’s bread basket, executed a delicious chip and chase and he also sent out a couple of delicious long, looped passes that allowed Leinster infiltrate behind Ulster’s wide defence.
For their part, Ulster offered little with their doggedness in defending inside their own 22 on a few occasions their most meritorious contributions until, with the scores level at 3-3 after early Sexton and Paddy Jackson penalties, they conceded the only try two minutes before half-time.
It came via a lineout just metres out from their line with Leinster collecting and Sean Cronin driving effortlessly over from a maul which had Fitzgerald and Ben Te’o adding their bulks to the collective effort. It was spoiled slightly by Sexton’s shank of a conversion, however.
Leinster’s profligacy continued in the second half with Te’o spilling a Sexton pass on the Ulster line after a Rhys Ruddock bulldoze through the middle and then Tadhg Furlong was held up over the line by Rory Best a few phases after the Leinster tighthead first broke through the defences.
Leinster failed utterly to replicate such golden opportunities after that and the frequency with which the ball scuttled out the back of a ruck or a pass was played a metre or more behind a receiver served as sure signs that the machine needs much more oiling.
Ulster almost made them pay.
Andrew Trimble scampered down Ulster’s left wing on 58 to establish the Belfast side’s first semi-prolonged siege of the night on the Leinster line and it was only some fine counter-rucking by the impressive openside Josh van der Flier that released the pressure valve.
The final quarter said much about the space both sides find themselves in with the game failing to ignite despite the gap of just five points them on the scoreboard.
Though an interprovincial, it lacked as much in intensity as it did in quality.
A sign of the times, perhaps.
I Nacewa; Z Kirchner, Ben Te’o, I Madigan, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, L McGrath; J McGrath, S Cronin, T Furlong; D Toner, M McCarthy; R Ruddock, J van der Flier, J Heaslip.
E Reddan for L McGrath (32); M Moore for Furlong (50); J Tracy for Cronin and P Dooley for J McGrath (both 60); R Molony for McCarthy and N Reid for Sexton (both 67); G Ringrose for Reid (73).
P Nelson; C Gilroy, D Cave, S McCloskey, A Trimble; P Jackson, R Pienaar; K McCall, R Best, W Herbst, I Henderson, D Tuohy; R Diack, S Reidy, N Williams.
C Henry for Reidy (43); R Lutton for Herbst (55); R Wilson for Diack (60); P Marshall for Pienaar (73); I Humphreys for McCloskey (73); R Herring for Best (76).
J Lacey (IRFU).
Edinburgh 32 Newport Gwent D’gons 13
Glasgow 13 Benetton Treviso 6
Northampton 15 Gloucester 3
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