Too little, too late for Ulster
Second-place Leinster face Scarlets in semi
RUAN PIENAAR is a South African of unflinching religious faith but the man above didn’t play his part in the former Springbok’s Belfast farewell, the miracle of miracles that was needed for Ulster to qualify for the semi-finals never remotely threatening to happen.
The four-pronged mathematical equation was Everest-like in scale. The northerners needed to beat leaders Leinster, needed to do so with a try bonus point, needed Ospreys not to take anything from their visit to Scarlets, and then they also needed to make up the seismic points difference of 73 which existed between them and the Swansea club.
Come 7pm, just two of the four necessary requirements had been delivered, the wins for Ulster and Scarlets, but there was never a fleeting moment when the other two necessities sprang to mind that they would happen, stop-start Ulster scoring just two tries and the points-difference margin between them and Ospreys falling to only 46.
Still, the packed stadium got its Hollywood moment with Pienaar, starring in his 140th match in seven seasons in Belfast, generating one final moment of genius, his exquisite cross-kick to the corner on 56 minutes fetched in the air by Andrew Trimble for the try that put them out of Leinster’s reach.
Thirteen minutes later he was gone, departing to a standing ovation that was followed by another couple of huge cheers post-game when he embarked on a farewell walk-about on the pitch he had lit up over the years.
Truth be told, though, this was a dour derby that will only momentarily stay in the memory due to the pageantry that accompanied the Bok’s emotional exit, and the other romantic tug that was Roger Wilson, the province’s record appearance holder, playing his final game before retiring.
Outside of that, this was an allIreland best forgotten, Ulster’s disastrous lineout (just 14 of 23 throws were won) and a multitude of handling errors by both sides sapping the momentum from what was effectively a dead-rubber derby.
The defeat did have play-off repercussion for Leinster, their fall to second in the table meaning they now face third-placed Scarlets in their home semi-final on Friday week, with Munster hosting the Ospreys.
Leo Cullen genuinely didn’t know if the last-day fall from first to second cost his club prize money. Of more concern to the Leinster coach, though, was the bruised pride that comes with defeat.
‘We wanted to get a home semifinal.
‘That was the aim when you embark into your 22 games and we knew we had that home semi-final for the last few weeks,’ he said, explaining why his much-changed selection dropped off hugely in standard.
‘That little bit of knowing you’re in the semi-final, I definitely think it affected the mentality of our players and we were off. That was disappointing because there is definitely a feeling in that dressing room we didn’t give a full account of ourselves.
‘But credit to Ulster, they were good. They were very physical and they bullied us out there at times in the contact area.
‘Guys need to have a good look at themselves so we can improve and move forward because it’s going to be a tough challenge. Scarlets are a really physical team as well.’
This contest did start encouragingly, Joey Carbery landing early penalties either side of a breakthrough Ulster try that came straight off the training ground, Stuart McCloskey crashing the ball up off a five-metre scrum and Wilson then barrelling over from the ruck.
From there, though, the tempo dropped considerably, only a pair of Paddy Jackson penalties breaking the increasing monotony before Pienaar’s precision kicking intervention.
Ahead 17-6, they should have gone on to win handily but a quick Leinster response – a penalty try awarded after a pair of scrum collapses followed Cian Healy getting held up over the line – left the margin at four to keep the scoreboard interesting, whatever the poor quality overall of the rugby that accompanied Pienaar’s farewell.