Leinster open pre-season with comfortable win over Ulster

Leinster 31 Ulster 14

Preparations for the start of the new rugby season began in earnest for Leinster and Ulster when they took on each other in a pre-season friendly at Balreask Old, Navan on Saturday.

This was one of the biggest days in the history of AIL Div 2C side Navan with up to 4,000 people showing up for encounter.

The game was won 31-14 by Leinster but the result hardly mattered as both teams used the challenge to try out players on the fringes of both squad.

Many of the big players normally seen in the Leinster and Ulster colours were conspicious by their absence on this occasion as the respective managers used the opportunity to try out fringe players.

The ‘home’ side led 14-7 at the interval and while Ulster hit back to level matters in the second-half there was no stopping the boys in blue as they marched to victory.

Dan Leavy and Jack Conan powered over for Leinster’s first half tries with Ross Byrne converting both. Ulster’s Sam Windsor kept his side in the hunt going over for a touchdown after a clever little kick ahead. Windsor also added the conversion.

On a superb pitch, well prepared by the local club for this one of the biggest occasions in their recent history, both sides sought to move the ball around at pace but inevitably at this stage of the season there were handling errors.

Wholesale changes were made by both sides at the interval with almost two separate teams emerging from the dressing rooms. Included in the Leinster side for the second-half were some well-known faces including Zane Kirchner and Fergus McFaddan.

Tries were created and taken by both sides with Josh Murphy and Irish international McFadden running in for unconverted touchdowns to push Leinster back out in front. Ulster were not prepared to give up without a fight and their new-look side engineered a try of their own through Robert Lyttle converted by Johnny McPhillips.

Leinster produced by far the more adventurous rugby in the second-half and a late try from Adam Byrne converted by Joey Carberry sealed the win.

LEINSTER: N Morris; A Byrne, R O'Loughlin, T Daly, B Daly; R Byrne, Nick McCarthy; P Dooley, James Tracy, Michael Bent; R Molony, H Triggs; D Ryan, Dan Leavy, Jack Conan (capt). Replacements: S McNulty for D Ryan (21 mins), B Dardis for Morris, F McFaddem for A Byrne, Z Kirchner for O'Loughlin, J Carbery for R Byrne, L McGrath for McCarthy, A Porter for Dooley, B Byrne for Tracy, V Abdaladze for Bent, I Nagle for Molony, J Murphy for McNulty, J van der Flier for Leavy, P Timmins for Conan (all half-time), R Molony for Triggs (54 mins), A Byrne for B Daly (70 mins), C Rock for L Mgrath, D Ryan for Molony (both 80 mins). Replacement not used: C Marsh.

ULSTER: L Ludik; J Stockdale, M Best, S Windsor (capt), D Busby; B Herron, D Shanahan; K McCall, J Murphy, J Simpson; A O'Connor, J Donnan; S Mulholland, N Timoney, M Rea. Replacements used: A Warwick, J Andrew, R Ah You, C Ross, C Boomer, A Lloyd, J McPhillips, R Butler, R Lyttle, A Magrath, C Smyth, C Kelly, A Thompson, A Cairns, R Kane, M Lagan, Z McCall.