Leinster completed a hat-trick of GUINNESS PRO14 derby wins over the festive period with a resounding 38-7 success against Ulster at the RDS tonight.
Man-of-the-match Jordan Larmour jinked through for the opening try and set up Barry Daly’s second, as wind-backed Leinster took a 12-0 lead into the interval.
The confidence gained from Ulster’s monumental comeback victory over Munster ebbed away as a Fergus McFadden brace secured Leinster’s bonus point by the 51st minute, and 20-year-old star-in-the-making Larmour and Jonathan Sexton touched down in the final quarter either side of Jacob Stockdale’s consolation score.
Having also overcome Munster (34-24) and Connacht (21-18) in recent days, Leo Cullen’s second-placed side, who trail the Scarlets in Conference B by just two points, have opened up an 11-point lead on Ulster in third.
Despite some positive early signs for Ulster in the form of a scrum penalty and a strong run from Charles Piutau, they fell behind in the fifth minute. McFadden’s break, via Ross Byrne’s short pass, exposed the defence and the supporting Larmour stepped inside Stockdale to score by the posts.
Byrne converted and the hosts went 12-0 up on the quarter hour mark, Ulster surviving a bout of scrum pressure before Leinster twice attacked out wide and Daly used Larmour’s well-timed pass to hand off Piutau and cross in the left corner.
The visitors, who had captain Rory Best back for the first time in a month, failed to profit from a break by teenage scrum half Jonny Stewart, who linked well with Stockdale, and they were also turned over at a promising maul.
The wind became more of a factor as Ulster struggled to get out of their own half, however Stockdale was a whisker away from intercepting a Byrne pass and bursting clear for a try against the run of play.
A Robbie Henshaw ruck offence allowed Ulster to threaten from a lineout in Leinster’s 22, but just when they had the home defence stretched, Piutau and Sean Reidy could not get the ball to the waiting Stockdale.
Iain Henderson did brilliantly to deny Larmour a try on the stroke of half-time, as Byrne dangled a kick through. The lightning-quick full-back missed out on another try on the resumption after Jamison Gibson-Park was ruled offside from the youngster’s kick.
Nonetheless, there was no stopping McFadden soon after as he sliced past Stockdale and evaded Best’s despairing tackle to raid over from the right wing with Byrne converting.
James Tracy and Tadhg Furlong both had early departures through injury, but their replacements Sean Cronin and Andrew Porter both impressed when introduced. The latter used a Henshaw-won turnover to swat away Darren Cave and Stockdale and Gibson-Park’s final pass put McFadden clear from halfway for the bonus point score.
Good hands from replacement half-backs Nick McCarthy and Sexton, coupled with a terrific mid-air pass from Henshaw, sent Larmour over in the left corner, as Leinster, who lost Garry Ringrose to an ankle injury, extended their lead to 31-0.
Stockdale finally opened Ulster’s account from Johnny McPhillips’ overhead pass, but Sexton had the final say in the 81st minute, going over unopposed after another Ulster turnover and some deft touches by Jordi Murphy, Noel Reid and Max Deegan.
Speaking afterwards, Leinster head coach Cullen said: “There’s still a lot of areas I think we can get better at, but for the most part, I think the guys brought real good intensity and there was much more consistency in the intensity that they brought in comparison to last week and even the week before (against Munster).
“That’s probably the most pleasing part. We generally took our chances pretty well. It was great to see backs running in from distance and I thought the players looked sharp, and that’s probably the most pleasing part of it.
“Very pleased (with the win). Ulster being our conference rivals, the Scarlets keep winning so it’s important that we stay in touch with them. It’s pleasing, it gives the squad a lot of confidence before we head into two massive weeks in Europe again.”
Ulster director of rugby Kiss commented: “I don’t think Leinster are that much better than us. It’s a reflection of the inconsistency that we showed that gave the opposition a chance to hurt us. We defended well for periods but then they turn us over and have scored three phases later.
“It’s a spiral. It’s not ideal and it’s hurting us. To be that inconsistent, it’s not ideal, that’s for sure. That’s the nature of what we’re looking at at the minute. That inconsistency, we don’t have a constant dependable style of rugby that we can rely on. We have a chance next week to respond (against La Rochelle).”
Confirming that the province have signed a new out-half from overseas and that Tommy Bowe is set for another spell on the sidelines, he added: “We have got a new person to replace Christian (Lealiifano) and we will announce that in due course. It’s an overseas player and all that has been cleared, so no problems.
“Tommy’s injury looks like it’s around the sternum but we’re doing more tests. The doc said weeks, so that could be anything getting up to eight. That’s a shame for him.”
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