Ulster 16 Leinster 14:ULSTER RECLAIMED pole position nearing the end of phase one of the Magners League from the European champions, sending the majority of a near-capacity crowd home happy even though it was another of those Ravenhill Saturday nights when you wouldn't have put the cat out. Another Euro away day disappointment aside, Ulster's rejuvenation appears to be the real deal.
This victory, a first in 11 attempts dating back to May 2004 against their bogey side of recent years, reaffirmed much of what has been good about their rugby this season. While there was little opportunity amid the teaming rain and swirling, capricious gale to demonstrate their offloading game and support play, the tight-knit work of their pack, especially at the breakdown, and the much improved accuracy out of hand and off the deck by Ian Humprheys steered them over the winning line.
Much of the garlands should go to the huge work-rate of the ultra-physical Tamaiti Horua, Willie Faloon and Chris Henry – which would have been deemed a second-choice backrow a year ago – and the consistently impressive Dan Tuohy. In truth though, the late developing and maturing Humprheys was the key to the result, for in effect he landed four kicks from four, allowing for one remarkable effort from at least 60 metres close to the left-hand touchline which was on target but fell just short.
Needless to say, that was with the elements in the second half.
Ultimately, his superb touchline conversion of Isaac Boss’ opportunist 49th minute try was the difference, along with three missed first-half penalties with the wind by Shaun Berne. Berne is a good acquisition and a fine centre, but in that and much else his performance highlighted one truism to emerge from this game for Leinster – they have no adequate cover for Jonathan Sexton at outhalf.
Into the wind in the final quarter, Sexton gave discernibly more shape to Leinster’s running game.
His wondrous touchline conversion, defying the elements and probably science as well, with the last kick of the game to the Luke Fitzgerald try which earned Leinster a bonus point – earned being the operative word – will merely have made the European champions wonder what might have been.
As Ulster backs coach Neil Doak observed dryly afterwards, the first half would have been made for Sexton. Not only might he have landed all three kicks, but he surely would have made better use of admittedly an unpredictable wind. Doak had some sympathy for Leinster in that when faced with three players lying deep, who wouldn’t give Brian O’Driscoll a few one on ones?
In the event, O’Driscoll proved once more he doesn’t mind getting down and filthy with a stirring night’s shift. Having played a pivotal role in the try by Berne in first-half injury time off Jamie Heaslip’s quick tap – Berne then ironically landing his most difficult kick of four – O’Driscoll made hay in the final quarter by exposing Ulster’s soft outside with searing breaks despite running in proverbial quicksand and into a gale.
Perhaps too, Leinster were dishevelled by Berne’s faulty radar, and by the wind dragging punts by Rob Kearney and Chris Keane out on the full. But on only one other occasion, an up and under by Berne, could one recall Leinster putting boot to ball in open play. At times in the first half, it almost seemed as if Leinster were running down the clock, and with English referee Andrew Small thankfully bucking modern trends in also penalising teams in possession for sealing as opposed to rucking, repetitive close-in recycling was difficult.
Typically, Berne having missed his third kick, a straightish 30-metre penalty, Leinster went through four phases off a scrum in midfield before turning the ball over, and then Bernard Jackman tapped a penalty inside their own half.
By contrast, Ulster put boot to ball at least eight times in open play in the second period, thereby forcing Leinster to play from much deeper than the home side had been obliged to do in the first 40. Ulster also showed a willingness to work from one to 15, Doak revealing that they were looking for 20 carries from everyone.
They might not have reached such a target across the park, but their Fijian flyer Timoci Nagusa came as close as anyone. Marooned on the wing on a similarly foul night for his debut in last season’s opener against the Scarlets, Nagusa is now a stone heavier and transformed by having his wife with him and from a summer holiday at home when he found himself repeating all the advice he had been given, but ignored, to young Fijians.
A try-scorer in each of Ulster’s previous four games, it’s a surprise he hasn’t made the Fijian squad for their November tour, given his acclimatisation hereabouts.
Proof of that came by way of him taking the ball up as first receiver three times nearing the 80-minute mark, once when bouncing CJ van der Linde no less.
That summed up Ulster’s performance, and clearly demonstrated they have something going for them.
Scoring sequence: 39 mins – Humphreys pen 3-0; 40 (+4 mins) – Berne try and con 3-7; (half-time 3-7); 47 mins – Humphreys pen 6-7; 49 mins – Boss try, Humphreys con 13-7; 72 mins – Humphreys pen 16-7; 82 mins – Fitzgerald try, Sexton con 16-14.
ULSTER: C Schifcofske; A Trimble, D Cave, I Whitten, T Nagusa; I Humphreys, I Boss; T Court, N Brady, B Botha; D Tuohy, R Caldwell; T Horua, W Faloon, C Henry (capt). Replacements: B Young for Botha, R Diack for Horua (both 63 mins). Not used: A Kiriacou, E O’Donoghue, P Marshall, N O’Connor, S Danielli. Sinbinned: Horua (40-50 mins).
LEINSTER: R Kearney; G Dempsey, B O’Driscoll (capt), G D’Arcy, I Nacewa; S Berne, C Keane; R McCormack, B Jackman, M Ross; D Toner, N Hines; K McLaughlin, S O’Brien, J Heaslip. Replacements: M O’Kelly for Toner (26-28 mins and half-time), CJ van der Linde for McCormack (half-time), J Fogarty for McLaughlin (41-47 mins) and for Jackman (47 mins), L Fitzgerald for Dempsey (54 mins), J Sexton for Berne (58 mins), Stephen Keogh for McLaughlin, Simon Keogh for Keane (both 69 mins). Sinbinned: Jackman (37-47 mins).
Referee: Andrew Small (RFU).
