LEINSTER 10
ULSTER 20
Garry Doyle at the RDS
HOW OFTEN HAVE we seen them let a chance like this slip? How often have we written about unfulfilled potential and the fact Leinster lived rent free in their heads?
This time they got it right. Their set-piece, their defence – most of all their defence – and their work at the breakdown was exemplary. So too was their willingness to stay calm when things didn’t go their way. By half-time, Ulster held just a 7-0 lead, leaving at least 13 points behind them, John Cooney missing two kicks, his backline colleagues missing a succession of chances.
Then, when Leinster recovered to level things by the midway point of the second half, you half-suspected Leo Cullen’s team to do what they normally do.
But this time was different. Rather than fold, Ulster regrouped, producing a steely performance in the final quarter to seal the deal, Nathan Doak defying his tender years to land a critical penalty to restore Ulster’s lead before James Hume stole Tommy O’Brien’s pass to canter clear in the final minute.
And that was that.
If you didn’t see it coming, well perhaps you weren’t looking closely enough. All season, Ulster have played well in patches but have spoiled their good work with periods of sloppiness. This time they got it right.
Few expected much from them – not just because of their appalling record against Leinster, more because of their shocking show against Connacht when they were last in Dublin, five weeks ago. This time was different, though. Their set-piece was good, their ability to decode Leinster’s line-out even better.
Many more boxes were ticked. Their line-speed in defence was sharp, their ball retention tidy, their ambition unquestioned. Three times in the opening seven minutes they won penalties within Cooney’s range. Each time they opted instead to go to the corner.
Leinster survived, not just because of their good work, but also because Ulster failed to put enough variety to their attacks. It was one-off runner after one-off runner. Worse again, everyone in the RDS could read their plans to unleash Stuart McCloskey. Certainly Leinster had their homework done.
The champions remained organised and connected through a 17-phase attack that should have yielded a score for Ulster. Instead of getting one, they turned down the chance to go for the posts.
You could understand why. Rob Herring was on song with his throws, Alan O’Connor and Sam Carter reaching high into the Dublin sky to connect with him. Ulster’s maul made yards in these early stages, just not enough of them.
The visitors stayed on the front foot. Luke McGrath’s tackle on Billy Burns on the tryline was extraordinary, James Tracy adding an extra pair of hands to keep out the Ulster out-half. Later Ross Molony stopped Carter in his tracks. The visitors were getting frustrated.
But they were also inching closer, realising the value of adding subtlety to their attacks. Finally, they got across when another line-out led to the opening try on 16 minutes, one that stemmed from smarter decoy runs, from resisting the temptation to go to McCloskey too early.
The opening try eventually came off a superb carry from James Hume out wide, as the centre got outside Larmour before Greg Jones followed up to supply the finishing touches. Yet there wouldn’t have been that space for Hume, that chance for Jones, had Ulster’s two props, Marty Moore and Eric O’Sullivan not carried with such intent earlier in the move, Moore’s pass inside to Carter a reminder of his undervalued footballing skills.
Leading by seven, Ulster continued to attack and had a two-on-one overlap out wide from their fourth visit to the Leinster 22 in the opening quarter and would have left there with points had Ethan McIlroy hugged the touchline.
Leinster escaped. They weren’t doing much else, though. It took half an hour before their line-out began to function, took them a few minutes more to come to terms with Dan Leavy’s withdrawal with injury on 21 minutes.
Yet they still made an impression towards the end of that first half. There were a couple of decent breaks – one by Ciaran Frawley that should have yielded a penalty when Craig Gilroy impeded his path, another by Jimmy O’Brien that saw space open up on the Leinster wing.
Ulster’s scramble defence was decent, however, and their breakdown work exceptional, Nick Timoney getting a gold star for his efforts.
By half-time it was 7-0 – Cooney missing a penalty from out wide. But he made amends shortly after the break. At 10-0, you knew Ulster were not going to go away quietly. But Leinster hit back, Robbie Henshaw getting across the line with a brave, opportunist effort, Ross Byrne adding the conversion and also a penalty.
Now we were in the final quarter. Surely Leinster would see this out? Well, no. Ulster were calm. Their fitness held up. Best of all, Hume held onto O’Brien’s pass to run clear and get the score that sealed the deal … and their first win in Dublin over Leinster since 2013.
Scorers
Leinster
Tries: Henshaw
Conversions: R Byrne (1/1)
Penalties: R Byrne (1/1)
Ulster
Tries: Jones, Hume
Conversions: Cooney (1/1) Doak (1/1)
Penalties: Cooney (1/3) Doak (1/1)
Leinster Rugby: Jimmy O’Brien, Adam Byrne, Robbie Henshaw, Ciarán Frawley, Jordan Larmour (rep: Tommy O’Brien ’71), Ross Byrne (rep: Harry Byrne ’65), Luke McGrath (rep: Nick McCarthy ’65), Ed Byrne (rep: Peter Dooley ’51), James Tracy (rep: Sean Cronin ’51), Tadhg Furlong (rep: Vakh Abdaladze ’68), Ross Molony, Devin Toner, Dan Leavy, Scott Penny, Rhys Ruddock (rep: Will Connors ’59)
Ulster Rugby: Mike Lowry (rep: Rob Lyttle ’52), Craig Gilroy, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Ethan McIlroy, Billy Burns, John Cooney (rep: Nathan Doak ’53), Andrew Warwick (rep: Eric O’Sullivan ’45), Rob Herring, Marty Moore (rep: Ross Kane ’71), Alan O’Connor (Capt.), Sam Carter (rep: Mick Kearney ’45), Greg Jones (rep Marcus Rea ’21), Nick Timoney, David McCann.
Replacements not used: Tom Stewart, Angus Curtis,
Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)
Very solid performance from Ulster, but some really poor play from Leinster, Ferris after the game hit the nail on the head, you’d expect Harry Byrne coming on to have potentially made a positive impact, he had the opposite effect, I really am yet to see anything from him that warrants him being involved in Ireland squads. Hume, Rea, Doak and Timoney all looked very strong in the close of that game, Ulster have the backbone of a strong squad, but need a run of consistency.
@Patrick Breen: yeah H. Byrne has been very sloppy in the last few outings for Ireland and Leinster. Obviously they see the potential in him but he certainly hasn’t shown it yet. Great to see Will Connors back and having such an impact off the bench.
@Patrick Breen: the better team won. The pairing of mcgrath and ross byrne is like rugby suicide. When nick mccarthy is the only leinster halfback that gets better than 4 out of 10 rating theres is something wrong. Adam byrne and larmour on the wings and these 2 box kick and gice away thr ball every time they get it. As for tracy how on earth is he still allowed to take lineouts.
@Derek Cassidy: leinster need to stop messing about and put frawley as sextons no 2. The 2 byrnes brothers than play front row are better outhalves than the other 2.
@Chris Mc: I definitely agree with you, having Frawley as the back up makes way more sense, I’ve been impressed by him when he’s played 10 for ye, however, I actually think that the 2 Byrne out halves might be better in the front row than Ed, I’m amazed he was capped, Bryan on the hand seems to be going well at Bristol.
@Patrick Breen: yeah we let him go and kept tracy and cronin.
@Derek Cassidy: Harry maybe hasn’t shown his potential but he looks like he has it. We just need to be patient.
@Patrick Breen: agree with you that HB has been poor the last 2 games when he came on but he is pure quality. You can’t have seen him play much if you haven’t seen why he is so highly regarded. Hopefully he gets a few starts and shows his potential the next few weeks
@Cathal: I’ve seen almost every game he’s played, and I’ve seen more reasons to be worried than excited, Healy at Munster has looked far more like a viable option. I think Ross Byrne and Carbery both had far less shaky starts to their rugby careers, the last time I was impressed by him was when he was playing u20s. I hope I’m proved wrong because he seems to be the man in favour with the Ireland camp, but I personally don’t rate him, which I know counts for absolutely nothing.
@Chris Mc: Frawley is the next Leinster big playmaker, I don’t see this Harry Byrne fascination ahead of him. Yes Harry Byrne showed brilliance early on but that was against amateur opposition. Not writing him off but….. FRAWLEY!
@Patrick Breen: If the coach at Ulster, Connacht or Munster was told by Andy Farrell ‘you have to replace your starter (or back-up) OH with Harry Byrne’, would they? I don’t think so. Even apart from the unfortunate timing of his injury he has shown very little against serious opposition. I seriously doubt Leo Cullen will start him in Champions Cup fixtures ahead of Ross Byrne either.
@Patrick Breen: I agree with you.
What’s the story with Harry Byrne, he looks completely out of sorts lately.
@Gally Had: 3rd choice at leinster. Hardly ever plays and yet the head scratcher is how is he in irish sqaud?????? Probably needs to move on to get more game time.
@Gally Had: I think he’s heading for those dodgy years where it could go one way or another – don’t think we’ll see a good Harry Byrne for a long time. Pity they can’t develop Frawley as an out and out Outhalf- he looks real deal
A good referee should be anonymous, Frank Murphy thinks it’s all about him. Absolutely horrendous referee every week. Not a fan of Ulster or Leinster btw. Just think he is there to ruin a game.
@Blindside: I agree, there towards the end he made some snarky comment to Ross Molony I think, about staying at home if you want to watch the big screen, who the hell does he think he is. How does he expect to command respect if that’s how he talks to players, like a petulant child. The irony being that he so often makes incorrect decisions that he has no right to be so arrogant. I really wish of all the trialled rules they had held on to the captains challenge, I know it slowed the game, but it gave some crutch to object to bad calls.
@Blindside: not taking away from the Ulster win, the better team won but yes, Frank Murphy is muck.
Jesus Dan levy just can’t catch a break
I wasn’t expecting this but Ulster played their hearts out, and more importantly were accurate in their passing, tackling, rucking and set piece. Absolutely delighted.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: better than the Toy Show lol Congrats Ulster, Hume was outstanding all fire skill and raw aggression
@Sustainable Hedgehog: well deserved.
@rugbyanbeer: Thanks both, my pessimism is paying off. Leinster are still the strongest province and this result will do them no harm.
@rugbyanbeer: We’ve got our tails up now, we’re coming for the Toy Show next.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: lol please take Tubridy, please please
Well I didn’t expect that..smug me put back in my box. Congrats Ulster. Am I going to complain about freezing my nuts off,not a chance after seeing the weather last night in Garway heroic supporters
There was nothing “tense” about it. Ulster were deserved winners and didn’t look under threat . And I was there to support Leinster. Credit where credit’s due
Fair play Ulster a well deserved victory.
Leinster on the controllables like lineout and lines and penalties were poor. Ulsters rush defence too far too long to break down or read. Harry tried to do it all without doing the basics but Nick and Will and some others were good. Roll on Connacht next
@Scott Crossfield: the leinster controlables are not letting tracy throw the lineouts and never start mcgrath and ross byrne together again.
I am not sure how you control frank.
@Chris Mc:
But McGrath was brought into the Irish setup two weeks ago… Marmion, Cooney, Blade& Doak must be lesser players… Carty must be behind Harry as well..
@Cowboy Ted: i wouldnt let mcgrath play for bective rangers. Hes a poor version of conor murrary, kicks every chance he gets, when he does pass its almost always at least head hight of the reciever and sometimes higher. He tackles well and is vert brave. Maybe he should play hooker cant be as bad as tracy at throwing in.
Great performance from Ulster. They deserved that completely. Leinster incredibly poor.
But again…how is Frank Murphy a referee? It actually beggars belief. He just makes it up as it he goes along.
@Tom McGirr: when he didnt even look at the frawley kick through to see if there was obstruction you know well frank doesnt care about doing his job. The IRFU need to remove this man.
Hume, Timoney and Connors the standouts.
@Phil O’ Meara:
Thought Henshaw good game, Cooney was very active vas well
@Phil O’ Meara: penny was good too.
@Chris Mc: Leinster back row weren’t even on the pitch until Connors came on. How many times were Leinster turned over going into contact with barely a back rower around to secure possession? Performed way below expectations. Nobody doing the dirty work
@Chris Mc: I love Penny, it must be hard for him with so many super open sides at Leinster. He’s welcome up north any time.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: he does get a lot of rugby but jvdf leavy Connors all playing 7 yeah hes got a few ahead of him. Hes too young to jump for game time but id say if he doesnt make the big squads hes gone.
We would swap him for doak.
@Chris Mc: No, you’re alright. We’ll keep Doak. He looks a cracker doesn’t he?
@Sustainable Hedgehog: super player. Him and ben healy looks like the future. With a bit of luck munster let healy play the right way and doesnt take the spark out of him. Again we will gladly swap ross byrne for ben.
Fair play to ulster , they gave an 80 minute performance tonight . Leinster we’re just off a bit . Not protecting the ball and too many handling errors.
Ulster defence was awesome and they kept bouncing back up onto their feet and back in line.
Great result and great for confidence moving forward, but they now have to back up that commitment and level of performance.
For me the result was achieved by two things
Breakdown domination
and
Aggressive defence tackling
But before Ulster supporters get carried away we have to remember who was missing from their squad this evening
@Mark Smith: Agree but Ulster weren’t at full strength either. They were missing 8-10 potential starting players.
@Mark Smith: Ulster fans won’t be getting carried away but we were missing first teamers too. McGrath, O’Toole, Henderson, Reidy, Murphy, Stockdale, Balaucoune and Addison would likely have started if fit. But we respect Leinster and I’m just delighted with the result. They don’t come often.
@Mark Smith: Ulster fans won’t be getting carried away but we were missing first team players too. McGrath, O’Toole, Henderson, Reidy, Murphy, Stockdale, Balaucoune and Addison would likely have started if fit. But we respect Leinster and I’m just delighted with the result. They don’t come often.
@Peter McClenaghan:
Probably only 2 or 3 would be starters
@Sustainable Hedgehog:
Yeah there are a few starters there certainty in IH,RB and WA and the others pushing for it.
Stockdale when back needs to step up to the plate more
Like you I am more than delighted with the victory but they need to maintain that level of performance
@Mark Smith: which 4 of Henderson, Murphy, Reidy, Stockdale, Baloucoune and Addison would you leave out? They’d all haven been in my starting XV tonight.
Then there’s O’Toole, McGrath, Marshall and Madigan who would all fancy their chances of starting when fit.
@Mark Smith: “But before Ulster supporters get carried away we have to remember who was missing from their squad this evening” Do you mean Addison
Baloucoune
Henderson
Izuchukwu
Madigan
McGrath
Murphy
O’Toole
Roberts
Stockdale.
Vermeulen
Not the Ireland players missing from Leinster but still very significant players…
Well deserved Ulster win. We were way too sloppy…Giving away 15 penalties.
Can’t argue with the result…We gotta just suck it up and learn from it.
Congrats Ulster…great win on the road for you.
@The Exhibition Guy – Stephan Murtagh: Learning mostly for the management as in don’t leave so many of your first choice players at home.
Even for Leinster going with so few first choice players against another Irish province doesn’t bode well.
Ulster were great tonight, didn’t let Leinster settle. Great tenacity, line speed and ambition. Even had Furlong looking frustrated at one point.
Like Ireland did vs the All Blacks, Ulster dominated possession and didn’t let Leinster into the game.
Leinster beat the All Blacks but Ulster beat Leinster.
@Peter McClenaghan: well deserved win. As for furlong frank gave a penalty against him when he clearly latches on the ball and says the ruck was formed. Furlong was the only leinster player at the breakdown so hes the first player and allowed compete for the ball becuse there’s no ruck otherwise
@Chris Mc: was a 2nd Ulster player there before Furlong?
@Peter McClenaghan: a ruck is ome player from each team.
@Peter McClenaghan: Leinster were pretty much missing their whole first team haha
@Chris Mc: and you can’t put hands in a ruck. So the ref was right?
@Peter McClenaghan: you cant put your hand into a ruck especially if there is no ruck there in the first place. So no Frank was not right, i wont call him a ref becuse that would give the impression he was in some way capable.
@Harry O’Callaghan: sorry but leinster played 23 leunster players on full contracts, including a load of internationals. If they are not good enough then they show not be at the club. No disrespect ment to Ulster but they had a number of players not considered good enough to play for Leinster but still won. No excuses the better team won.
We didnt learn from the LR game that mcgrath and ross B just dont play fogether. Neither can see anything other than kicking the ball when under pressure.
Oh as and for tracy how can he still be allowed take lineout throws
@Chris Mc: Don’t understand why Sheehan wasn’t played as he didn’t have a huge amount of playing time for Ireland. Same applies to Baird
Enjoyed that. Wasn’t even that cold. SUFTUM.
Good