Juniors claim inter-pro glory with Ulster victory
LEINSTER Rugby Juniors became the 2018 Junior interprovincial champions after they defeated reigning champions Ulster at the University of Ulster Coleraine last Saturday.
Leinster had already secured victories over Connacht at Ballinrobe RFC and Munster at Coolmine RFC and with Ulster also unbeaten it meant it was a winner-takes-all match-up.
Ulster were quick out of the blocks with a penalty scored by Lee Steenson.
A few minutes later, Leinster were awarded a penalty for a high tackle. The ball was kicked to touch, and from the ensuing lineout, Leinster deployed a superbly worked move that saw the forwards split, one group moving forward in the lineout, the other moving backwards.
The ball was thrown into the gap that opened in the centre which Simon Feeney burst through. There was no stopping the big wing forward as he crossed the whitewash for the first try of the game.
The try was converted by Dundalk’s Gearoid McDonald, giving the boys in blue a 3-7 lead after 10 minutes.
Both sides then exchanged penalties before Leinster struck with a killer score on half-time.
A beautiful move saw the ball moved from inside their own 22 to the Ulster 22, before Dundalk’s Derek Williams went in under the posts for Leinster’s second try. McDonald kicked the conversion bringing the half-time score to 6-17.
Leinster’s hard work was rewarded just after the 70-minute mark after a penalty was kicked deep into the Ulster 22. From the resulting lineout Leinster won possession and set up a rolling maul. The ball was securely held at the back of the maul and the Leinster men drove hard for the Ulster line. Kilkenny RFC man Wes Carter rumbled over the Ulster line.
Ulster were far from finished and on 76 minutes Ryan Garrett went over for a try far out to the left of the Leinster posts. The conversion was missed leaving the score at 18-24. LEINSTER JUNIORS: D Costello (S Duffy); D Williams, M Russell, M Stapleton (P O’Connor), C Carty; G McDonald, S Horan (C McCrossan); J Gray (C Bannon), S Arrowsmith (J Gorman), R Farrell (D Quinn); W Carter, B McManus; K O’Gorman, S Feeney (R Foot), T Satchwell (T Brady).