Big guns return to put Leinster in driving seat

JOHNNY SEXTON says PRO14 champions Leinster are now back in control of their own destiny after ending Ulster’s ten-match winning start to the campaign at the RDS.

Leinster coach Leo Cullen made 13 changes to the side shocked by Connacht last weekend.

With a dozen Irish internationals returning they had enough to see off an Ulster side who scored half their total while departing Springbok back row Marcell Coetzee was in the bin before the break.

Indeed, against the odds Ulster outscored the champions 6-0 in that spell, but Leinster got on top after the restart and with fullback Hugo Keenan superb and the home pack dominant, hooker Sean Cronin and centre Robbie Henshaw got in for tries during sustained pressure in the third quarter.

“It’s a very important win, we knew that in terms of the league table with only a few games left,” said Sexton.

“We wanted to put in a big performance so getting the four tries and to deny them anything was an added bonus. It’s in our hands now but there is still a lot of work to do.”

Leinster have never lost two successive league games at the RDS but they went in trailing 9-5 at the break with their former player John Cooney giving Ulster a deserved lead with three penalties.

A superb pass from scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park and a quality finish in the left corner by Dave Kearney for his 48th Leinster try – and first ever against Ulster – provided some relief for the champions after 23 minutes.

Leinster were surprisingly pushed on the back foot when Coetzee was binned for a high tackle on

Cronin but they were dominant after the restart, went for the corner with a penalty and drove over.

Jordan Larmour, back from a shoulder injury after three months, made the initial surge which led to their third try from Henshaw, with Sexton’s first conversion making it 17-9, and they never looked back.

Cooney reduced the gap with his fourth penalty but Leinster drove over for the bonus point from replacement hooker James Tracy to end Ulster’s winning run.

“I’m disappointed and gutted for the lads after the effort they put in,” said Ulster coach Dan McFarland.

“I thought we had weathered the storm in the first half but then really shot ourselves in the foot twice at the start of the second half and Leinster scored two tries. We were always on the back foot after that.”