Leinster’s perfect season ends with title hat-trick

PRO14 FINAL

Leinster 27

Ulster 5

LEINSTER became the first Guinness PRO14 three-in-a-row champions after breaking free of Ulster in the second half to win at the Aviva Stadium.

Robbie Henshaw’s 45th-minute intercept try and a closing score from Caelan Doris were the highlights as Leinster claimed their fifth PRO14 title in eight years, taking their overall record haul to seven league crowns.

With a crunch Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final against Saracens just a week away, captain Jonathan Sexton was benched up to the hour mark as Ross Byrne kicked Leinster into a 10- 5 half- time lead following tries from James Hume and James Lowe.

Former All Black Alby Mathewson was to the fore of Ulster’s determined challenge but Leo Cullen’s men duly completed an unbeaten PRO14 season and extended their winning streak to 25 matches.

Buoyed by their late heroics in Edinburgh, Ulster enjoyed a dream start. Alan O’Connor’s pull-back pass released Hume from 40 metres out and the young centre got away from Ronan Kelleher and Lowe to brilliantly score near the left corner.

Billy Burns was unable to convert and Leinster built patiently for a response, which they found nine minutes later. Jamison Gibson-Park’s cut-out pass put Lowe over out wide, the conversion supplied by Byrne.

A close-range Byrne penalty doubled Leinster’s advantage in the 26th minute, as Doris, man-of-the-match Josh Van Der Flier and Andrew Porter made a series of important interventions at the breakdown.

Leinster began the second half with a booming Byrne penalty and the killer blow arrived just moments later. Henshaw gobbled up a Burns pass just inside the Ulster half and stayed clear of the chasing Michael Lowry to go in under the posts.

With Byrne’s conversion making it 20-5, it was a long way back for the Ulstermen.

The clinching try arrived nine minutes from time when Doris drove past t wo former Leinster players Jordi Murphy and Ian Madigan, and under the posts, with Sexton converting.

Scorers, Leinster - Tries: Lowe, Henshaw, Doris. Cons: R Byrne 2, Sexton. Pens: R Byrne 2. Ulster - Try: Hume