IT TOOK a moment of high tension at the Kingspan Stadium to seal this one for Ulster, John Cooney’s long-range penalty with time almost up snatching the result from Leinster by 23-21 and bringing the northern province a guaranteed top eight URC finish.
Afterwards, a relieved Richie Murphy praised Cooney’s coolness under pressure as the scrum-half continued his excellent placekicking form for Ulster who have now won their last four games on the bounce.
“I thought it was made for John, his goalkicking has been incredible for a number of years now,” said Murphy.
“Those big moments, he seems to thrive on them, so we were delighted to see him step up and he duly knocked it over.”
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Ulster now face a second interprovincial derby as they go to table-toppers Munster on the first day of June for the final round ahead of the play-offs.
“Incredible really,” was how Murphy described the outcome, “we had a really good start to the game, just got to the line and we’re making a habit of getting to the line, getting over but not getting the ball down and that’s something we’ll have to try to do better.
“I thought we controlled the first half really well, (though) a couple of mistakes and Leinster are so good that they hurt you in that regard, but we stuck in it and got some fresh legs on the pitch and those guys coming on gave us great impetus to finish the game,” he added as Ulster came back from trailing 21-13 to win.
“I was pretty disappointed with the way the scrum was being managed,” the Ulster head coach said.
“I didn’t think the dominance was as the referee saw it so that’s something we’ll definitely go back and have a look at, they were definitely getting the rub of the green in those situations which meant we were under a lot of pressure in that second half.
“In the second half they started to get into their game and we were creaking, but we managed to stay in it and in relation to that I was really happy as I thought that was a big improvement in what we’ve done over previous games,” Murphy added.
And hailing a big effort when defending their line on 68 minutes — Leinster having turned down a kickable penalty to go for a try bonus — Murphy praised Ulster’s work ethic under pressure.
“Defensively, we’re not perfect yet but we’re working hard for each other which is really good.”
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Praise for Cooney: 'His goalkicking has been incredible for a number of years'
IT TOOK a moment of high tension at the Kingspan Stadium to seal this one for Ulster, John Cooney’s long-range penalty with time almost up snatching the result from Leinster by 23-21 and bringing the northern province a guaranteed top eight URC finish.
Afterwards, a relieved Richie Murphy praised Cooney’s coolness under pressure as the scrum-half continued his excellent placekicking form for Ulster who have now won their last four games on the bounce.
“I thought it was made for John, his goalkicking has been incredible for a number of years now,” said Murphy.
“Those big moments, he seems to thrive on them, so we were delighted to see him step up and he duly knocked it over.”
Ulster now face a second interprovincial derby as they go to table-toppers Munster on the first day of June for the final round ahead of the play-offs.
“Incredible really,” was how Murphy described the outcome, “we had a really good start to the game, just got to the line and we’re making a habit of getting to the line, getting over but not getting the ball down and that’s something we’ll have to try to do better.
“I thought we controlled the first half really well, (though) a couple of mistakes and Leinster are so good that they hurt you in that regard, but we stuck in it and got some fresh legs on the pitch and those guys coming on gave us great impetus to finish the game,” he added as Ulster came back from trailing 21-13 to win.
“I was pretty disappointed with the way the scrum was being managed,” the Ulster head coach said.
“I didn’t think the dominance was as the referee saw it so that’s something we’ll definitely go back and have a look at, they were definitely getting the rub of the green in those situations which meant we were under a lot of pressure in that second half.
“In the second half they started to get into their game and we were creaking, but we managed to stay in it and in relation to that I was really happy as I thought that was a big improvement in what we’ve done over previous games,” Murphy added.
And hailing a big effort when defending their line on 68 minutes — Leinster having turned down a kickable penalty to go for a try bonus — Murphy praised Ulster’s work ethic under pressure.
“Defensively, we’re not perfect yet but we’re working hard for each other which is really good.”
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John Cooney Leinster richie murphy Star Ulster URC