Leinster too strong for brave Ulster

A star-studded Leinster team – with star B&I Lions fullback Rob Kearney leading the way – overpowered Ulster 15-3 in their all-Ireland Magners League Derby at the Royal Dublin Society on Saturday.

The reigning European champions made it ten straight Magners League wins at their Dublin base, with the result moving them back to the top of the league table.

Ulster fielded an under-strength team, with Grand Slam winners Paddy Wallace, Tom Court and Stephen Ferris all rested as part of the IRFU Player Management Programme, whilst Willie Faloon replaced late cry-off David Pollock at openside flanker.

Leinster, meanwhile, had most of their frontliners on show, with prop CJ van der Linde and lock Nathan Hines (both of whom are seasoned internationals) the only absentees from the team that comfortably beat the Scarlets last weekend in the Heineken Cup.

In a frenetic start, Ulster’s debutant fullback Jamie Smith took two good early catches to settle his nerves and lock Dan Tuohy carried well for the visitors who were gunning for their first away win over Leinster in ten years.

Buoyed by their back-to-back European demolitions of the Scarlets over the past fortnight, Leinster turned down their first kickable penalty in search of an early try but Ulster’s aggressive defence kept them out and a straight-on penalty from Shaun Berne opened the scoring on ten minutes.

Berne’s opposite number, Niall O’Connor, failed to punish Sean O’Brien for a stray boot at a ruck and Ulster blindside flanker Thomas Anderson received a harsh sin-binning after he was adjudged to have gone over the top of a ruck after a hack-through from halfback Isaac Boss.

But Ulster showed great resilience while a man down – they backed themselves in seven-man scrum situations – and the game continued at a high pace with midfield breaks from Stan Wright and Simon Danielli almost setting up tries.

Leinster replacement Mike Ross was pinged for a needless offside and O’Connor converted the resulting kick to brief level the tie, only for Man-of-the-Match Kearney to break the try deadlock five minutes before the break.

Centre Gordon D’Arcy made the score with a neat step and sweetly-delivered off-load out of contact and B&I Lions ace Kearney – who had such a fine series against the Boks in the summer – raced onto the pass on the 22 to outstrip the cover and ease over under the posts. Berne’s conversion made it 10-3 for half-time.

Ulster’s defence slipped up again, six minutes into the second half, when Kearney battled to gather his own garryowen inside the visitors’ half and he deftly passed to the supporting Heaslip, who swatted Smith away with a powerful hand-off and galloped over to the left of the posts.

Berne failed to add the conversion and Leinster struggled thereafter to carve out further try-scoring opportunities. It was Ulster who looked more threatening in the closing half-hour and they really should have garnered a losing bonus point.

As Leinster fell off the boil, Ulster were in desperate need of some better execution. The best of their chances came in the dying minutes when Shiels raced into space and had Danielli held his pass out to the left touchline, a try looked certain.

The scorers:

For Leinester:
Tries: Kearney, Heaslip
Con: Berne
Pen: Berne

For Ulster:
Pen: Connor

The teams:

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Shaun Berne, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Malcolm O’Kelly, 4 Leo Cullen (captain), 3 Stan Wright, 2 John Fogarty, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Bernard Jackman, 17 Mike Ross, 18 Devin Toner, 19 Stephen Keogh, 20 Paul O’Donohoe, 21 Fergus McFadden, 22 Girvan Dempsey.

Ulster: 15 Jamie Smith, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Simon Danelli, 10 Niall O’Connor, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Chris Henry (captain), 7 TJ Anderson, 6 Willie Faloon, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Ed O’Donoghue, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Bryan Young.
Replacements: 16 Andy Kyriacou, 17 Declan Fitzpatrick, 18 Ryan Caldwell, 19 Neil McComb, 20 Cillian Willis, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Jonny Shiells.

Referee: George Clancy
Assistant referees: John Lacey, Leo Colgan
Television match official: Jude Quinn

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