Battling Ulster suffer dose of festive blues
ON a night that had at one stage threatened to get out of hand, Ulster battled back to take their first point from the RDS in four years.
Having been the victim of yet another Leinster onslaught with the PRO14 champions running in eight tries to lead 54-21 just beyond the hour mark, Dan McFarland’s men ultimately managed six of their own including the game’s final three to secure a try-scoring bonus in a 54-42 defeat.
The first of Greg Jones’ two tries would prove the crucial one with a quarter of an hour gone with the visitors’ much-changed panel ultimately seeing Leinster extend their lead at the top of Conference A to 12 points.
“After the first-half we learned that we’ve still got some way to go,” admitted McFarland who gave four Academy men their debuts from the bench.
“That was nothing to do with a lack of effort or a lack of bite because we showed that to score six tries.”
Many of the rested front-liners figure to return against Connacht at home on the 27th, with internationals then set to filter back in for the hosting of Munster in the New Year.
Unfortunately Ulster centre Angus Curtis was set to spend the night in hospital, victim of a sickening injury in the second-half.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; F McFadden, T O’Brien, R Henshaw, C Kelleher; H Byrne, J Gibson-Park; P Dooley, S Cronin, A Porter; S Fardy (c); J Murphy; W Connors, S Penny, M Deegan. Replacements: B Byrne (for Cronin, 56), C Healy(for Dooley, 50), R Salanoa (for Porter, 56), O Dowling (for Fardy, 56), J van der Flier (for Connors, 50), H O’Sullivan (for Gibson-Park, 59), C Frawley (for T’Obrien, 69), C O’Brien (for Henshaw, 61)
ULSTER: R Lyttle; C Gilroy, M Faddes, A Curtis, A Kernohan; B Johnston, D Shanahan; A Warwick, A McBurney, T O’Toole; D O’Connor, A O’Connor (c); M Rea, N Timoney, G Jones. Replacements: J Andrew (for McBurney, 56), K McCall (for Warwick, 56), R Kane (for O’Toole, 56), J Regan (for A O’Connor, 69), A Allison (for Curtis, 51), J Stewart (for Shanahan, 71), S Moore (for Faddes, 50), E McIlroy (for Lyttle, 23)
IN a year when Ulster’s form away from the friendly confines of Kingspan Stadium has improved dramatically, they ended their 2019 travels very much in the same way they began — a defeat in the RDS.
The province’s first game of 2019 was a 40-7 reverse at this same ground with a similarly inexperienced side and, on a night when Dan McFarland handed four youngsters their debuts, Ulster would prove to be the latest side unable to live with the PRO14 champions and European favourites.
However, the point earned via the fourth of their six tries in this 54-42 reverse will feel the very definition of a bonus under the circumstances and the fight required to score the game’s final three scores was a more commendable effort on this patch than they’ve managed on any recent visit.
In a game played essentially by both side’s second strings, the Dublin outfit’s enviable strength in depth was displayed in a starting line-up that still boasted six players with international experience and a handful more expected to gain some in the coming year.
In contrast, with the likes of Iain Henderson, John Cooney, Jacob Stockdale and many more of their usual core saved for battles ahead, it was not a night when much was expected of the visitors, the side’s already long odds of victory stretching even further when the teams were confirmed on Friday lunchtime.
The opening minutes summed up the first hour of the game well with nothing to please either defence coach and Leinster outscoring their callow opponents at a two-to-one clip.
Max Deegan scored the first of the game’s 14 tries, followed soon after by back-row colleague Scott Penny, with an Ulster response from Angus Kernohan sandwiched in between.
Debutant Tommy O’Brien had been involved in much of his side’s good play early on and was front and centre again when slipping under the tackle of Faddes who was shown a yellow card for the tackle. O’Brien was on his way down a split second before the contact but George Clancy and the TMO combined to hand Ulster’s Kiwi 10 minutes in the bin.
Already struggling to see any ball, things were hardly likely to improve a man down. So it quickly proved. While Ulster’s defence was game — never more so than when Dave Shanahan somehow did enough to stop a rampaging Deegan — but Leinster looked likely to reach the whitewash in every persistent attack.
Penny soon helped himself to another and Ulster were dealt a further blow with the injury sustained by Lyttle in making a tap-tackle, ruling him out of the remainder. That meant a first debut of the night and an hour
long shift for the youngest member of the travelling party, Ethan McIlroy. The Methody Schools’ Cup winner slotted in at fullback in a like for like change on a night that he was surely aware much of his work would be of the defensive variety.
Robbie Henshaw was next over, taking Harry Byrne’s crossfield kick in his stride and Leinster had their bonus-point score before half an hour had elapsed.
Faddes returned with his side 14 points worse off than when he departed.
He went some way to make amends on the verge of halftime, pouncing on a loose ball that fell between Deegan and Gibson-Park before winning the foot race for the line with Rob Kearney who inadvertedly tripped up the chasing Henshaw to allow the scorer of Ulster’s second try to make the conversion a good deal easier for Johnston.
There was still time before the turn for McFadden to add yet another for Leinster but the two tries at least had Ulster entertaining hopes of an unlikely try-bonus point at the break.
Resistance in the second-half was to last twice as long as in the first — five minutes having elapsed when Kearney went over. Ulster’s most concerted spell of possession followed, rudely interrupted by McFadden brilliantly stroking the resulting penalty into the arms of Henshaw who sent Kelleher clear for yet another.
Leinster were purring, coming dangerously close to a point a minute and, adding insult to injury, chose this particular moment to call upon Cian Healy and Josh van der Flier.
A seemingly horrible injury suffered by Angus Curtis forced an already over-run unit into deploying flanker Nick Timoney on the wing. It was the other wing, Gilroy, who went over for Ulster’s third try, intercepting Scott Penny and running in from halfway.
Deegan added yet another before Ulster got their all-important fourth through Greg Jones, although McIlroy deserves much of the credit for ensuring his side returned up the M1 with a point, earning the preceding five-metre scrum with a clever gather of a high-ball and a chip and chase that had Kearney scrambling back.
A first point in Dublin since 2015 and a nice moment too for the youngster who was the pick of the promising Academy prospects thrown in at the deep end.
With both sides having maximised their possible returns with a quarter of an hour still to go, the scoring pace slackened somewhat although Ulster added two more to rack up a barely credible tally of 42 points in a defeat.
They move on, with a point more than they likely expected from the evening, to a pair of home fixtures against Connacht and then Munster.
Presumably with both a radically changed panel and vastly altered expectations.