URC quarter-final: Leinster 43 Ulster 20
Winning supersedes all other considerations in knock-out rugby, so in that respect it was a case of mission accomplished as Leinster confirmed a place in the United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-final and a clash with the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday (3.00pm Irish time).
Six tries was a handsome reward, a reflection of Leinster’s ruthlessness inside the Ulster 22, patterns that relied on good team interplay and power on the gainline, forcing Ulster to become narrow in defence. The pummelling had a concertina effect and enabled Josh van der Flier and Jordan Lamour to scoot over unopposed for tries in the wider channels.
There were also a couple of nifty strike moves, Tadhg Furlong’s footwork and timing of the pass got the defence to sit down momentarily, and while Jamie Osborne should have passed to Jamison Gibson-Park, the centre was able to ride Stewart Moore’s tackle to send the outstanding Robbie Henshaw over for a try.
Ross Byrne’s inside pass, sent James Lowe clear and he bullocked through brittle defence for his first try, while the two combined again on a cross-kick for Lowe’s second, the wing showing natty soccer skills; although it should be noted not quite in the same stratosphere as Sam Prendergast’s sublime flick volley with the outside of his boot to Max Deegan.
Prendergast, a second-half replacement, showed some lovely touches, composed in picking passes, drawing tacklers, and making space, a cameo of note.
Joe McCarthy was awarded the match laurels, on the back of a superb all-round effort, his try-saving tackle on Nick Timoney, one of many high-profile moments of excellence. He admitted: “They were putting a lot of pressure on us, and I just about got under the ball. He came up short and I just about pulled him over.”
The Leinster pack was industrious to a man, McCarthy, Ryan Baird, James Ryan and Van der Flier voracious, and so too, Caelan Doris whose footwork and power took him well beyond the initial collisions. Gibson-Park picked up the tempo at crucial times, Byrne was a facilitator for a three-quarter line that snapped up four tries and had some good individual moments in attack.
It was far from a blemish-free display, Leinster losing the aerial battle. Ulster head coach Richie Murphy explained that they had a plan to catch Byrne and Gibson-Park defending the backfield, but Jacob Stockdale, before limping off injured, was conspicuously dominant aerially against Jordan Larmour and Jimmy O’Brien.
Teams invariably require a little good fortune, but Ulster found none. Cormac Izuchukwu started brightly but was forced off with a head knock. Greg Jones, a backrow, did superbly to try to mitigate the damage of having no fit secondrows with his work-rate, while Harry Sheridan had a superb game.
James Ryan’s great cover tackle on John Cooney averted a try-scoring chance, Timoney was held up over the line, and in the last passage of play before half-time when trailing 17-0, Ulster should have been awarded a penalty try.
A lineout maul was heading for the Leinster line, and Doris was adjudged to have broken his bind in bringing it down illegally. Penalty try and a yellow card, but referee Andrew Brace settled for a penalty. Murphy said when asked about the incident: “The first driving maul is going over the line, it’s going to be a try.
“He [Brace] penalises them so I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be a penalty try but it is what it is. You’ve got to move on. We had another opportunity and unfortunately, we didn’t get it,” a reference to Ryan Baird’s athletic steal at the ensuing lineout.
“I thought tactically we went into the game with a good idea, went away from it a little bit but managed to veer back towards it, but again I thought we showed great character, kept fighting right to the end, which was satisfying from my point of view.”
Ulster, too, had some excellent performers, Rob Herring, Stu McCloskey, Timoney, Matty Rea, Sheridan, Tom O’Toole, Mike Lowry and the excellent Cooney were indefatigable while providing numerous moments of quality; Izuchukwu and Stockdale were excellent before injury took them out prematurely, while Ethan McIlroy had a significant impact off the bench.
Trailing 17-0 at the interval, Cooney kicked a penalty, David McCann grabbed a try, but the home side subsequently managed to keep Ulster at a minimum of 14 points behind despite tries from Moore and Lowry, the latter scoring with the final play of the game.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said of the logistical and rugby challenges that his team faces this week in travelling to Pretoria for the semi-final. “For the group it is about embracing the challenge, it will be hard but it’s brilliant and we want to get excited by it. It’s different but hugely exciting, nonetheless.
“There’s plenty of character in the group, that’s for certain. You don’t get into these knock-out games by accident, so everyone is going full-blooded at these games, so to still be going and have a sixth playoff game to look forward to is no easy feat.
“There’s the players that are on the field, the players that have contributed to get us to this point; you have to juggle the resources across the season to still be able to fire at this point of the season. We’d love to have a home semi-final, but this is the challenge and the next adventure that we have is a trip to South Africa.”
SCORING SEQUENCE – 20: Henshaw try, Byrne con, 7-0; 30: Byrne pen, 10-0; 33: Lowe try, Byrne con, 17-0. Half-time: 17-0. 42: Cooney pen, 17-3; 45: Lowe try, 22-3; 49: McCann try, 22-8; 62: Larmour try, Byrne con, 29-8; 64: Moore try, Cooney con, 29-15; 67: Van der Flier try, Byrne con, 36-15; 75: Molony try, Prendergast con, 43-15; 80: Lowry try, 43-20.
LEINSTER: J O’Brien; J Larmour, R Henshaw, J Osborne, J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, J Ryan (capt); R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris.
Replacements: M Ala’alatoa for Furlong (42 mins); R Kelleher for Sheehan (52); L McGrath for Gibson-Park, R Molony for Ryan, C Frawley for Lowe (all 62); C Healy for Porter (65); S Prendergast for Byrne (68); M Deegan for Doris (70).
ULSTER: S Moore; M Lowry, W Addison, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, J Cooney; E O’Sullivan, R Herring (capt), T O’Toole; H Sheridan, C Izuchukwu; M Rea, D McCann, N Timoney.
Replacements: G Jones for Izuchukwu (HIA, 17 mins); E McIlroy for Stockdale (47); A Warwick for O’Sullivan (50); N Doak for Burns (57); D Ewers for Rea, J Postlethwaite for Addison (both 62); S Wilson for O’Toole (67); T Stewart for Herring (67).
Referee: A Brace (Ireland).
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