THERE IS STILL a fair bit of road to run in this condensed Pro14 season but Leinster’s bonus-point 24-12 victory over Ulster at the RDS tonight felt like a key blow in the race for top spot in Conference A.
Leo Cullen’s men remain in second place, five points behind Ulster, but they have two games in hand.
In that sense, it was all the more satisfying for Leinster to deny Dan McFarland’s side a losing bonus point with a muscular defensive set in the final minute of action in Dublin.
As they now face into what will hopefully be back-to-back weekends of Champions Cup rugby against Northampton and Montpellier, Leinster can be satisfied with a job well done after bouncing back from defeat to Connacht at the RDS last weekend.
“It’s in our hands now,” said captain Johnny Sexton post-match. “There’s still a lot of work to do.
“We’re going to lose a lot of players to the international window and then the rest of the squad are going to have to pick it up. It’s always been a squad effort in this club for those reasons and it’s no different now.
“No, we’ve got a few really tough games to play and during the Six Nations window, we won’t know who’s available. We still have it all do but it’s in our hands now, so that’s all you can ask for.
“We needed to get a game together, for me I haven’t played for Leinster for a long time apart from 20 minutes last week so it’s about getting that continuity.
“You could see we were very rusty, especially in the first half, but I was very proud of how we gathered ourselves at half-time and had a very good second-half performance.”
Ulster, meanwhile, were left dejected with their inability to build on 9-5 half-time lead and deliver what would have been a big win on the road.
“We came down here with a side that we felt would put in a really good performance and certainly for the first half, we did,” said McFarland.
“We were up against a Leinster team that was more or less fully loaded, very strong. At half time, we put ourselves into a good position with some smart play and some strong play.
“Then at the start of the second half, we made two errors, giving a penalty away needlessly in our third of the pitch, which they scored off.
“And then knocking on when we had a chance in their half of the pitch, that ended in a period of pressure and a try.
“That was was really the flipping of the game. We were always on the back foot from there. A huge amount of effort was put into that, both in terms of the preparation and the physical effort and mental intensity that went into that.
“Ultimately, if you are not close to error-free football here in Leinster, they can make you pay and they did.”
Ulster are now set to return to Europan action with scheduled fixtures against Gloucester and Toulouse, although it remains to be seen what happens next in the Champions Cup as EPCR awaits a decision from the French government on the Top 14 clubs’ involvement.
Ulster big ball carriers Coetzee and McCloskey hardly made a dent .Nor did they seem to have a Plan B. No sense that Burns can steer a ship in rough seas.
@Michael Murray: madigan can’t either.. why don’t they give Johnstone a craic
@Darren Mullins: ….yep….true test of an 10 is put him behind a pack under pressure and you’ll see how good he is.
@Darren Mullins: Johnston is not the answer. He has shown nothing at Ulster.
@Trevor Johnston: wouldn’t say that, not had much of a shot and really hasn’t put a foot wrong, zero opportunity. Ulster need to find someone under the age of 25 to blood at 10, BB is at the wrong end of his 20s, even for the next WC you could argue.
@Trevor Johnston: People on here criticised Munster for letting him go. But in my opinion he didn’t do enough to stay. Seems very similar with him at Ulster. Maybe he’s just not top class. Just a squad player really
Leinster still have the edge on Ulster in fairness.
Its small advantage Leinster. Results of two games in hand, away V scarlets and home v Munster are important. 10 points and they go to Ravenhill with a 5 point advantage. Lose one and its back to advantage Ulster. Win both without BPs and it means going to Ravenhill with a 3 point advantage, which Ulster could overturn. So while Leinster have an advantage now, its very much still all to play for.
Is it just me or is Dave Kearney starting to sneak his way into the 6 nations squad?
@Gar Eth: He’s 32 this year so 34 when the World Cup comes around. We really should be looking at younger players. That said he playing very well.
@Gar Eth: what a winger who’s good in the air, can tackle, pass the ball and scorers nearly every game he plays in? Your totally mad.
@Gar Eth: All the provinces are trying younger players on the wings so in the uncertain interim of seeing who dominates from the group maybe a gestural cap, he’s not WC tho, great league player no doubt.
Murphy was the best player on the pitch.
Leinster need to give up on Tracy. He simply can’t throw a lineout ball. Ross done fine at 13 but dosent really offer much in attack. Great to see larmour back and defending very well.
Leinster holding out at the end stopped ulster getting a losing bonus point and that may just be the differance.
@Chris Mc: Had a huge game, big statement that he’s not faded off, VDF was anonymous and RR didn’t have his strongest showing (you’d allow it tho on the back of how good he has been lately).
Scarletts munster Ulster all & Glasgow at home so still to all to play for and definitely none of those a forgone conclusion. Ulster just have to be strong and competitive y the time the Ulster game comes around to put all the pressure on. Still it’s great for the league to see teams pushed and with euro spots up for grabs still some tough fixtures ahead, the only thing is a fixture on paper can be so much different in real life if it’s during the 6 nations camps and competition
Just finished watching the game on TG ,MOTM Jordan Murphy, for the winning side Robbie Henshaw. News from the campfire was the 2 tens would split the backline in offensive,at ruck time with two offensive back lines they have been working on this strategy ,I didn’t see it
Did leinster have the 28 players back that were named on here as missing against connacht???
@Tony Mcgrath: not all of them
@Zippy: did o Driscoll and heaslip play