Academy centre Conor O’Brien’s classy solo try and energy around the pitch earned him the man-of-the-match honours in Leinster’s 40-7 bonus point derby win over Ulster in the GUINNESS PRO14 at the RDS.
Andrew Porter’s try on the stroke of half-time gave Leinster a 26-7 lead, with his front row colleague Sean Cronin scoring twice inside the opening 12 minutes. Hooker Adam McBurney’s lone effort for Ulster was cancelled out by Conor O’Brien’s fourth try in seven PRO14 games.
Rob Kearney, Leinster’s captain for the night, was one of the players who got important game-time ahead of next Saturday’s crunch European clash with Toulouse, and Leo Cullen’s men, who have stretched their lead at the top of Conference B to 19 points, wrapped up the result with Jamison Gibson-Park’s 61st-minute snipe and a last-minute penalty try from a dominant scrum.
Noel Reid was the only player retained from the Leinster team that lost at Munster, while Ulster, who face a big encounter with Racing 92 next week, made 11 changes to the side that went down to Connacht. It was the hosts who hit the ground running with Cronin’s early brace showcasing his undoubted power and finishing ability.
Gibson-Park ignited a 26-phase attack which ended with the Ireland hooker powering through tackles from James Hume and Michael Lowry to score to the left of the posts. O’Brien’s excellent offload to Barry Daly soon paved the way for Cronin to double his and Leinster’s tally, with Ciaran Frawley adding both conversions.
Locks Alan O’Connor and Matthew Dalton led Ulster’s response, their pack profiting from a close-in 17th-minute lineout as McBurney broke off the maul to crash over for a try which Johnny McPhillips converted.
However, the returning Kearney’s restart win immediately set up O’Brien for a brilliant individual try, the Mullingar youngster shrugging off Angus Kernohan’s tackle and stepping inside the visitors’ half-backs to make it 19-7.
McPhillips missed the target with a long-range 28th-minute penalty, and just as Ulster pressed for a second try, an overthrown lineout and a penalty against the otherwise-impressive O’Connor let them down. Approaching the interval, Leinster chipped away with a maul and further carries from which Porter grabbed his second try in as many games.
Frawley’s third successful conversion went over off the left hand post, and Ulster’s hopes were not helped by injuries to full-back Lowry and loosehead Kyle McCall. They brought on Bruce Houston and Caleb Montgomery for their debuts, with the former – operating as a makeshift winger – involved in foiling a dangerous Scott Penny break.
The scoring dried up until the hour mark when Leinster’s pack forced three scrum penalties in quick succession, two at five-metre range. The advantage for the latter penalty allowed scrum half Gibson-Park to register his sixth try of the season.
The home side took their own match tally to six tries in the final seconds, debutant lock Oisin Dowling forcing a penalty at the breakdown and a further infringement gave their scrum the platform to drive forward and gain a penalty try from referee Andrew Brace.
Speaking in the aftermath of the interpro encounter, Leinster head coach Cullen said: “There are plenty of positives to see young guys mix it in with the older fellas. The result is the result, the performance is more important from our point of view. There were good bits, particularly in the first 20 minutes when our control of the ball was really, really good and Sean Cronin gets in for a couple of tries.
“We concede that try, which is a bit tricky in terms of how we manage that, but the good thing is we hit back straight away. Conor O’Brien gets in for a very good individual try, where he beats a number of defenders and we close out the half well with a classic tighthead try.
“The start of the second half, the first 20 minutes, we can probably be a bit better there in terms of applying more pressure when we’ve got the ball. We just let Ulster off on a couple of occasions when we just didn’t respect possession and gave it away too cheaply.
“We regather a bit of control and momentum as the half goes on, the last 20 minutes were a bit better but that third quarter can be a bit better.”
Ulster boss Dan McFarland commented: “I think the pace of the ball was the key thing. Leinster were pretty sharp, they got in the gaps in between us and it looked as if, even though we were working hard, they were finding spaces.
“Even when we were making decent tackles, the ball resulting from that was quick and putting us under pressure. They weren’t losing the ball, not as often as we were and that was a big difference. We put some good phases together, we looked to play through them with a few offloads, but we weren’t able to finish them off.
“The other thing was, and it was noticeable against Connacht last week, as soon as we put some good play together or got a score, we then put some very bad play together. All the momentum is knocked out of you and it’s almost worse than having not had it all.”
He added: “(Kyle McCall’s leg injury) did not look good. I feel so sorry for Kyle, he was so desperate to start that game. He was out for a long time, the beginning of the season just when he was hungry to fight for his place in that loosehead position, really competitive position for us, and then to suffer what was, I do not want to preempt it, but it did not look good.”
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