Ulster 22; Leinster 21
Leinster felt the hoist of their own petard as time and again they looked the gift horse of scores in the mouth, thus ending up the losers by the tightest of margins to Ulster at the RDS on New Year’s Day.
Head coach Leo Cullen made 14 changes from their 9-3 win in Thomond Park with Rob Russell the only one to be retained from the starting XV against Munster. And so many alterations proved their own undoing as it allowed Ulster the confidence to come to Dublin and head home with a rare win.
The win on top of previous victories over Racing 92 and Connacht, meant that Dan McFarland’s side entered the fray with a positive attitude. That was reflected in their play which yielded first-half tries from Nick Timoney [2] and Jacob Stockdale, with the boot of John Cooney accounting for a further seven.
Indeed the home side were stunned as the visitors raced into a 12-0 advantage but then hit back with touchdowns from Cian Healy, Rob Russell and Dan Sheehan but they still were a point short of parity at the end of 80 minutes in front of 16,248 who withstood the downpour throughout the game.
At the end of this BKT United Rugby Championship derby it was Billy Burns who emerged as man of the match as his astute kicks not just from the tee but from the hand kept the Blues on the backfoot where they don’t like to be.
Yes, Leinster were shorn of several first team stars such as James Ryan, Tadhg Furlong and Jimmy O’Brien to name but three but it was Ulster who played with the greater intelligence during this game.
Ulster are now up to fourth in the league and it was obvious in this game that their win was worth far more to them than just the points on offer.
Afterwards, winning Head Coach McFarland said: “I’m very happy, it is the best challenge in the URC coming to Leinster and to come away with a victory and the manner of it is very pleasing," said McFarland after the 22-21 win. I suppose the Racing one was a better game to watch from a move the ball around the park. That win was probably quite exciting, gutsy.
“To me that was a really gutsy performance from us interspersed with three brilliant tries. We took our points when we needed to take them. The rest of it was to clench your teeth, get down in the trenches and do the work that you have to do. That's still a victory, isn't it?”
“Ulster scored three first-half tries, all off the back of clever kicks from man of the match Billy Burns, as the visitors, beaten here last season after blowing a sizeable lead, outsmarted Leinster’s defense time and again.
“I don’t think that it is new knowledge," he replied when asked if their rush defense was picked out as a possible weakness. If you play the kind of defense that Leinster are going to play this year, they are susceptible to kicking.
“There was some high quality and accurate kicking, Billy is one of the best in the game at that; I genuinely mean that. Yeah definitely, it was a plan but you have to have variety in that, be able to do it in different ways and not be obvious.
"Setting it up and planning it is difficult but those guys understand that. They have to execute it well. There was certainly one of them [tries] which Billy was smart, understood where our players were going to be and out the ball there, even when it is not structured."
Leinster: Ciarán Frawley; Tommy O'Brien, Liam Turner, Robbie Henshaw, Rob Russell; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Cian Healy, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Jason Jenkins, Joe McCarthy ; Ryan Baird, Will Connors, Caelan Doris (capt) Replacements: Lee Barron, Jack Boyle, Michael Ala'alatoa, Ross Molony, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Harry Byrne, Josh van der Flier.
Ulster: Will Addison; Rob Baloucoune, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, John Cooney; Steven Kitshoff, Rob Herring, Tom O'Toole; Kieran Treadwell, Iain Henderson; Matty Rea, Sean Reffell, Nick Timoney Replacements: Tom Stewart, Andy Warwick, Scott Wilson, Alan O'Connor, Dave Ewers, Nathan Doak, Mike Lowry, Jude Postlethwaite.
Ref: F Murphy
Connacht 22; Munster 9
You just knew that former Munster outhalf JJ Hanrahan wouldn’t go quietly into the good night as he lined out as Connacht’s No 10 at the Sportsgrounds on New Year’s day.
Even the driving rain couldn’t steer the home team off the victory scent and ended their five losses in a row and gave fresh hope for their fans with 2024 opening up in front of them.
This clash was certainly not for the faint-hearted, either playing or watching, as Munster outmuscled their opponents to lead 6-3 at the break thanks to Tony Butler's brace of penalties.
Bundee Aki of Connacht is tackled by Munster’s Rory Scannell. [Inpho/James Crombie]
He quickly added another penalty on the changeover but thereafter, it was the home side who took control with Hanrahan kicking five penalties, four in the second half, while also converting Jack Aungier’s late, late try which ended the game as a contest.
