Rain forces Leinster to find alternative way to beat Ulster

Leinster 30 Ulster 15

The theory goes that rain-sodden evenings such as the one on Saturday constitute something of a leveller. Yet Ulster would probably have preferred a dryer track to bring their talented backs more into play, and although the weather also restricted Leinster’s normal attacking game, the conditions were better suited to their superior power game.

This, after all, is effectively the Grand Slam winning pack and, what is more, Leinster arguably possess the best Irish front-row of all time in Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadgh Furlong. And cometh the hour, cometh the men.

Admittedly, Ulster have a potent maul as well but such was Leinster’s vice-like grip on possession (62 per cent) and territory (74 per cent) that they were restricted to just three throw-ins inside the opposition 22, one of which malfunctioned while another was stolen by the towering James Ryan.

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When Ulster did engineer a try for Rob Herring, it brought their deficit back to eight points entering the last quarter. Game on. Ross Byrne kicked superbly all evening, both off the tee – missing just once difficult kick out of seven – and out of hand.

His varied restarts were also on the money, save for the one following Herring’s try, which rolled over the dead ball line. That turned out to be a master stroke.

Suitably affronted by the concession of that maul try, the Leinster scrum obliterated the Ulster scrum and celebrated accordingly. It was the game’s final pivotal moment. Byrne found touch inside the Ulster 22 and within three minutes Porter burrowed over in his inimitable style. Game over.

There had been a similar pattern to Ryan Baird’s fine finish in the first-half when Byrne went to the corner from another scrum penalty. In truth, Leinster’s backline didn’t really fire, and almost fittingly it was when Robbie Henshaw’s intended pullback for Byrne went to ground that Jamison Gibson-Park swooped to score opportunistically.

Otherwise, it was Leinster’s power game which dampened Ulster’s fire, Jack Conan (20 carries for 40 metres), Ryan, Baird and Sheehan leading the charge with 52 of Leinster’s 115 carries. Ryan and Baird also seized the moment with some big plays and, given the stakes, it was clearly a very satisfying win for the starting pack especially.

“It just shows that we can win playing different styles of rugby,” said Conan. “It wasn’t the day for the standard Leinster attacking brand of rugby. We had to keep it a bit tighter and we showed the strength of our scrum and maul today at times.

“We were a little bit disappointed we left a little bit out there at times, especially early on, on the try-line – myself included – so there’s things to improve on, get better at,” added the Leinster number 8 in reference to having his own touchdown ruled out on review because he lost control of the ball after grounding it short of the line

“But, again, it’s a good way to win a match, playing pressure rugby like that. It will be similar again next week with the style Leicester play.”

In its own way, this Leinster performance was a statement of intent, and underlined that the hurt from coming within one play of earning that fifth star in last May’s final against La Rochelle in Marseilles remains an acute source of motivation.

“Yeah, it was exciting to come back in after making history with Ireland,” said Conan. “We came back in for two days last week and it was good to flick the switch, get back into Leinster mode and refresh ourselves with the calls and the style of play. It was a great few weeks with Ireland, but we have an opportunity to win something really special in a few weeks’ time.”

Conan’s own high-energy, hugely focused 80-minute display earned him the man of the match award, but although “happy enough” with his own performance, he said good-naturedly: “I don’t know who was picking man of the match today but it was good to get it – my mother must be ringing him.

“It’s good to be back with the lads, to win with that style of rugby today. The backrow was good, Ryan [Baird] was fantastic with his try and the turnover as well. We’re happy with where we are.

“But we need to get better again, hopefully Caelan [Doris] will come back in next week – there’s good depth there.”

They were also motivated by a remarkable sell-out attendance just a fortnight on from that historic Grand Slam coronation. Swollen by a noisy Ulster contingent, although some sodden supporters in the more exposed seats to the front understandably sought the sanctuary of sheltered viewing points, the sell-out crowd remained engaged until the final quarter.

“We’re happy that our friends, our family are in the crowd, and to walk out to 54-odd thousand people is special considering how special it was with Ireland the last few weeks. To have the game here I know means a lot to the lads and definitely it’s that extra motivating factor, playing at home.

“Hopefully we’ll get a similar type of turnout next week. It’s brilliant to hear everyone’s voices, it adds to the atmosphere.”

Ulster were resilient and tackled themselves to a standstill, conceding zero line breaks, and also scored the game’s best try after Jacob Stockdale brilliantly reclaimed his own up-and-under and Billy Burns crosskicked perfectly for James Hume to score.

The Ulster captain Alan O’Connor lamented the team’s discipline, albeit the damaging 15-7 penalty count and yellow cards for Hume (admittedly a very harsh call) and the promising Harry Sheridan were the product of Leinster’s unrelenting pressure game.

“They’re a class team” admitted O’Connor. “They’ve class players and they’re all on the same page, they all know exactly what they’re doing. They nail the moments when they need to and they were more consistent in their execution of their play, what they wanted to do, than we were. Fair play to them.”

[ Restricted attendance expected at Aviva as Leinster set for Good Friday night showdown with Leicester in Champions Cup ]

Scoring sequence: 11 mins Doak pen 0-3; 12 mins Byrne pen 3-3; 20 mins Baird try, Byrne con 10-3; 26 mins Byrne pen 13-3; Hume try 13-8; 38 mins Byrne pen 16-8; (half-time 16-8); 54 mins Gibson-Park try, Byrne con 23-8; 58 mins Herring try, Cooney con 23-15; 63 mins Porter try, Byrne con 30-15.

Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O’Brien, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Ross Molony, James Ryan (capt), Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan. Replacements: Scott Penny for Van der Flier (55 mins), Michael Ala’alatoa for Furlong (64 mins), Luke McGrath for Gibson-Park (67 mins), Jason Jenkins for Ryan (68 mins), John McKee for Sheehan, Cian Healy for Porter (both 70 mins), Harry Byrne for R Byrne, Ciarán Frawley for Henshaw (both 73 mins).

Ulster: Michael Lowry, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak; Rory Sutherland, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor (Captain), Kieran Treadwell, Dave McCann, Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen. Replacements: Jeffery Toomaga-Allen for O’Toole (half-time), Harry Sheridan for McCann (47 mins), John Cooney for Doak (50 mins), Stewart Moore (55 mins), Tom Stewart for Herring (59 mins), Eric O’Sullivan for Sutherland, Herring for Steward (both 62 mins), Marcus Rea for Treadwell (67 mins), Ben Moxham (79 mins). Sinbinned: Hume (53-63 mins), Sheridan (68-78 mins).

Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)