Leinster find the spirit of old and romp to decider

Leinster 30 Ulster 18: Leinster have had their critics during a season which saw any bid for European honours ended as soon as it had begun, but they delivered a season’s best to claim a berth in next weekend’s Guinness PRO12 final in Edinburgh.

They did it against an Ulster side that brought form, confidence and a settled side to the RDS and yet the visitors still found themselves outdone by their neighbours in a league knockout game at this ground for the fourth time in six seasons.

The Dublin side now stands just eighty minutes away from what would be a third league title in four years and a first trophy for coach Leo Cullen in his rookie season. Ulster, without silverware since their Celtic League success in 2006, remain ever the bridesmaids of Irish rugby.

The first-half could not have been better.

Leinster dominated the opening quarter, enjoying almost 90% possession and 96% territory after eighteen minutes of sublime, intelligent, varied and intense rugby which caught Ulster completely flat-footed and scrambling to respond.

It was the perfect riposte to the ‘predictable’ comment made about their attack by Ulster defence coach Joe Barakat during the northern side’s 30-6 win in Belfast late last month and one which Isa Nacewa had admitted on Friday was gristle to Leinster’s mill.

Fitting then that it was the Kiwi veteran who opened the scoring with a sublime jig and dart to leave three Ulster defenders grasping at air as he ducked in from the right touchline and just about over the end line with only five minutes gone.

Jonathan Sexton added the conversion and two other penalties followed in the home side’s next two visits to the opposition 22. It was clinical stuff and Ulster were in trouble in all departments: from the dominance of Leinster’s rucking to Luke Fitzgerald’s bossing of Andrew Trimble on the wing.

Ulster, inevitably, began to gain some sort of as foothold in the game – Leinster simply couldn’t play at that pace all evening - but their initial probings weren’t heralds of better things to come as Leinster’s defence rebuffed a handful of attacks.

Luke Marshall seemed destined to touch down on the first of them only for Rhys Ruddock to halt him with a brilliant tackle and the secondary assault was dealt with by a combination of Nacewa and Ben Te’o who hauled Iain Henderson to the sideline.

Minutes later and Henderson was being stood up in the tackle for a Leinster turnover shortly after Sexton had stripped Gilroy. You worried for Ulster when the ball then bounced badly for Sean Reidy as he ran on to a Gilroy grubber just metres from the scoring zone.

Yet they persisted and reward was imminent.

Paddy Jackson opened the scoring for them with a penalty on 27 minutes and he repeated the trick five minutes later when Leinster were lucky not to cop a yellow as well as the penalty after referee Iain Davies whistled for hands in the ruck under the home side’s posts.

It was a rare quibble on an evening that had already repaid the faith of the 19,100 who had snapped up every ticket available and Ulster set the foundations for a similar second-half when Gilroy just slipped in past Dave Kearney to claim their first try shortly before the interval.

It was a try commissioned by the brilliance of Ruan Pienaar’s electric service and a dummy from the South African scrum-half that bought him a slip of space inside the 22 before instigating the move that sent his wing over.

Jackson’s missed conversion from the sideline kept Ulster from parity, but the swing in momentum was undeniable and it was Ulster who asked the first questions on the restart before being caught in the solar plexus by a rapid Leinster attack and try.

"So, what did you make of the first half?" #LEINvULS pic.twitter.com/1RrsB1MfCq

— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) May 20, 2016

It was Jamie Heaslip who touched down after Sexton, Garry Ringrose and Te’o – with a wonderful offload – engineered the room and, with Sexton adding the conversion, it left Ulster nine adrift and not far removed from the bottom of the hole they had found themselves in earlier.

Scrambling out for a second time proved impossible. Sexton was running the show like the consummate ten that he is and a Leinster scrum which had been bigged up as a game breaker all week finally began to make their counterparts creak and crack.

Both played a part in forcing the fouls and errors that allowed Sexton tap over another penalty and then Sean Cronin trundle over for Leinster’s third, sealing try. Suddenly the gap was an almost inconceivable 19 points.

Leo Cullen had already begun to empty his bench when Gilroy scooted in for a five-pointer in reply with ten minutes to go and, though Jackson’s conversion was dispatched in seconds, a dozen points still separated them.

It still did at the end. It was like the Leinster of old.

einster:

I Nacewa; D Kearney, G Ringrose, B Te’o, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, E Reddan; J McGrath, R Strauss, M Ross; D Toner, M Kearney; R Ruddock, J Murphy, J Heaslip.

Replacements:

Z Kirchner for Nacewa (50); S Cronin for Strauss and T Furlong for Ross (both (53); R Molony for Kearney (67); P Dooley for McGrath, L McGrath for Reddan and I Madigan for Te’o (all 69); J Conan for Ruddock (74).

Ulster:

J Payne; A Trimble, L Marshall, S McCloskey, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; C Black, R Best, R Lutton; P Browne, F van der Merwe; I Henderson, C Henry, S Reidy.

Replacements:

A Warwick for Lutton (8-12 and 62); K McCall for Black (47); S Olding for McCloskey (58); R Wilson for Reidy (62); R Diack for Browne (67); D Cave for Marshall (69); R Herring for Best (74); P Marshall for Pienaar (76).

Referee:

I Davies (WRU).