The Front Row Union Sport - PRO12: Ulster 30 Leinster 6

PRO12: Ulster 30 Leinster 6

May 2, 2016

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Ulster romped to a comfortable 30 – 6 win against a disappointing Leinster side on Saturday afternoon in their penultimate PRO12 match of the regular season.

Ulster (10) 30

TRY: Penalty Try, Jared Payne, Paddy Jackson. CON: Paddy Jackson (2), Paul Marshall. PEN: Paddy Jackson (3)

Leinster (6) 6

PEN: Johnny Sexton (2)

I’d predicted a comfortable win for Ulster in the preview for this match and that’s exactly how it turned out, though I must say Ulster didn’t have to get out of third gear too often to keep their lacklustre opponents in check.

Rob Kearney opened the door for Ulster, with his act of stupidity on the 18th minute, and once 10 points clear Ulster seldom looked threatened by a Leinster side that showed little imagination. They did have some success through their pack which won them a couple of penalties but once Ulster sorted out their scrum the game was only going one way.

The basic match facts were as follows:

MINUTE	ACTION	SCORE
11	Paddy Jackson opens the scoring for Ulster after Luke McGrath is penalised for blocking.	3 – 0
18	Rob Kearney is yellow carded for blocking Ruan Pienaar after the Ulster maestro opened up the space with a dummy and a chip ahead. Ulster awarded a penalty try and Jackson adds the extras.	10 – 0
27	Leinster knuckle down and work a penalty chance while a player down. Johnny Sexton converts.	10 – 3
36	Sexton adds his second penalty as Leinster claw their way back into contention.	10 – 6
53	Luke Fitzgerald yellow carded for a pull back on Rory Scholes in the Leinster 22. Jackson slots over the resultant penalty.	13 – 6
57	Jared Payne crosses for Ulster after Jackson opens up the defence with a delightful sleight of hand. Jackson adds the extras.	20 – 6
70	Jackson adds a penalty to push Ulster three scores clear. The only question is will it be a four or five point win?	23 – 6
78	Paddy Jackson intercepts a Eoin Reddan pass and sprints clear from 65 meters to score close to the posts. Paul Marshall drop kicks the conversion as Ulster chase the fourth try.	30 – 6
80	Leinster are ripped apart once again only for a fumble three meters out to bring the game to an end.	30 – 6

It’s only our second win against Leinster in seven season, so let’s not get carried away with this result, but it was good to see how easily the Ulster boys won their own personal battles and, as predicted, how the front five ended the game well on top.

I suspect we’ll meet our Mexican cousins in the final and I suspect they will put up more of a fight but Ulster look to have a lot more in their tank at this stage of the season.

Ulster: Jared Payne, Andrew Trimble, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Rory Scholes, Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar, Callum Black, Rory Best, Ricky Lutton, Pete Browne, Franco van der Merwe, Iain Henderson, Chris Henry, Sean Reidy. Replacements: Rob Herring, Kyle McCall, Andrew Warwick, Robbie Diack, Roger Wilson, Paul Marshall, Stuart Olding, Darren Cave.