With the inter-provincial championship already decided there was nothing at stake except pride and a little matter of a confidence boost before next week's European Cup kick-off.

In the end it was Leinster who would have gained most at Ravenhill with Mark McHugh landing his sixth penalty in the dying moments of the game. Leinster deservedly won, despite themselves. They had Ulster on the rack on more than one occasion but failed to drive home their advantage. The first half was just one long series of errors with Leinster just shading the issue. But at least they had points on the board first with out-half Mark McHugh converting a simple penalty in the second minute. Simon Mason levelled before McHugh again gave Leinster the lead. Ulster engineered a brilliant try by Spencer Bromley, who, by far, has been the most impressive player for the European champions during the championship. Mason pushed Ulster into a 13-6 lead with his second penalty in the 26th minute before the final piece of action of the half saw McHugh land his third penalty.

The second half was a carbon copy of the first. It was a series of penalties that helped kill any enjoyment with Mason seeing a penalty sandwiched between a brace by McHugh to leave the score at 16-15 to the home side going into the last quarter.

Mason with a huge kick from just inside Leinster's half stretched Ulster's lead. But Leinster finally did grab the lead which they had threatened for most of the half. Denis Hickie was put in possession 30 metres out and wriggled his way through to score in the corner. McHugh's conversion rebounded off the upright.

The final five minutes were tense and for a change exciting, as the lead changed hands a couple of times. First Mason restored Ulster's lead but McHugh's sixth and final kick gave Leinster victory.

ULSTER: S Mason; S Coulter, J Cunningham, N Malone, S Bromley; D Humphreys, M Edwards; R Irwin, R Weir, S Best, G Longwell, M Blair, E Miller, T McWhirter, A Ward. Replacements: A Clarke for Humphreys (54), S Bell for Edwards (61), G Leslie for Irwin (52).

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; G D'Arcy, P McKenna, D Whiston, D Hickie; M McHugh, S Forster; E Byrne, J Blaney, G Halpin, R Casey, M O'Kelly, D O'Brien, V Costello, L Toland. Replacements: L Cullen for Costello (47), R Corrigan for E Byrne (64), S Byrne for Blayney, (60), A McKeen for Halpin (60).

Scoring sequence: 2 mins: McHugh pen, 03; 4: Mason pen, 3-3; 14: McHugh pen, 3-6; 21: Bromley try, Mason con, 10-6; 26: Mason pen, 13-6; 40: McHugh pen, 13-9; 52: McHugh pen, 13-12; 54: Mason pen, 16-12; 57: McHugh pen, 16-15; 68: Mason pen, 19-15; 69: Hickie try, 1920; 75: Mason pen, 22-20; 79: McHugh pen, 2223.