Leinster v Ulster: Five takeaways as Ireland-stacked bench saves Leo Cullen’s side but ‘all is not peachy’ for reigning champions
James Lowe and Sam Prendergast in action for Leinster against Ulster.
Following a 24-20 triumph for Leinster over Ulster in the United Rugby Championship (URC), here’s our five takeaways from Friday’s game at the Aviva Stadium.
The top line
Leinster fought back from 17-7 down at the break as once again their bench proved decisive in securing a come-from-behind victory which is much-needed for the province.
First-half scores from Werner Kok (2) and Tom Stewart gave Ulster a perfect platform but Leinster pressed the accelerator after the interval, getting three second-half tries.
Joshua Kenny, James Lowe and Dan Sheehan were those try-scorers, after Rieko Ioane had crashed over in the first half, as Leinster claimed valuable URC points in Dublin.
The bonus-point victory puts Leo Cullen’s men amongst the leading pack ahead of the remaining fixtures of the weekend but form wise all is not peachy at the champions.
Bench saves Leinster
It was a similar story in the Investec Champions Cup last Friday against Leicester Tigers when a stacked bench turned the match on its head to grab the victory. This was the case once again in Dublin as the likes of Sheehan, Paddy McCarthy, Tadhg Furlong and Joe McCarthy made a significant impact and ultimately won the game.
Sheehan was the match winner with a 74th minute score from the back of a driving maul, but it almost felt inevitable the hosts would find a way with the quality on show.
However, as mentioned, there are some concerns for boss Cullen and his coaching team as Leinster do appear to have lost a step from both a player and team perspective.
Ulster rue late loss
This was a big opportunity for Ulster, make no mistake. Like Munster did by pouncing earlier in the URC season, Leinster were there for the taking on their Dublin patch.
It was looking promising at the interval with that 10-point cushion, but they lacked direction in the second period and Leinster subsequently capitalised and upped the ante.
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While this defeat will sting, there are positives to take for this ever-improving Ulster outfit as defensively the visitors were excellent for large parts of the game and can be proud of their efforts in that department. However, they went into their shell in the second period and that will certainly leave a feeling of what if on the journey north.
James Ryan in bother
Having only recently returned from a suspension for a dangerous clear-out on Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx, he found himself sitting on the naughty step again tonight.
Initially it felt like the lock was a tad unfortunate in receiving the card and while it would have been a nervous wait on the foul play bunker’s decision, it stayed as a yellow.
The Ireland veteran got as low as possible in his attempted clear-out, but it was clumsy and resulted in him making contact with the neck of Ulster replacement Sam Crean.
Ireland duo struggle
It is safe to say it was not Sam Prendergast and Lowe’s finest outing in a Leinster jersey and our ratings saw them both pick up a 4 and 5/10 respectively for their showings.
The Ireland 10 struggled with his kicking game in the first half especially and it was noticeable that Harry Byrne took more of a leading role when he played alongside him.
Meanwhile, Lowe has had a difficult couple of weeks as his struggles at Leicester were evident again tonight. Defensively he was brushed off by Stewart while he once again looked a little off the pace. A second-half walk-in will no doubt do him good but one has to wonder if Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is looking at alternatives at wing.