Champions Leinster overturn a 10-point half-time deficit to beat Ulster 24-20 at the Aviva Stadium in the first of the festive interprovincial derbies in the United Rugby Championship.
United Rugby Championship, Aviva Stadium
Leinster 24 (7)
Tries: Ioane, Kenny, Lowe, Sheehan Cons: Prendergast, Byrne Pens:
Ulster 20 (17)
Tries: Kok 2, Stewart Cons: Doak Pens: Doak
Champions Leinster overturned a 10-point half-time deficit to beat Ulster 24-20 at the Aviva Stadium in the first of the festive interprovincial derbies in the United Rugby Championship.
Leo Cullen's side were again not at their best in Dublin but utilised a strong bench contribution to see off their committed visitors.
A double from Werner Kok and try from Tom Stewart had put Richie Murphy's side in the ascendancy but, with Leinster having loaded their bench, their superiority told in the second half.
Joshua Kenny and James Lowe had brought the hosts back within touching distance with replacement hooker Dan Sheehan scoring the telling try from a maul with five minutes remaining.
Ulster were still able to take a losing bonus point from the game which keeps them just ahead of Leinster in the table with both sides now having won four games.
Ulster took advantage of Leinster ill-discipline to work the territory for the opening score.
Having kicked for the corner, a pinpoint cross-field kick from Jack Murphy, playing at the time with penalty advantage after a Leinster offside, was drilled over the head over Ciaran Frawley with Kok on hand to take advantage of the fortuitous bounce and score.
Robert Baloucoune appeared set to double the advantage soon after but his kick ahead of a loose Sam Prendergast pass fell kindly for the covering James Lowe.
Instead, Leinster took the lead 14 minutes before half-time with Rieko Ioane marking his first URC appearance with a score.
After a spell of real patience from the hosts, Prendergast threw a miss-pass just out of the reach of Jack Murphy which the All Black momentarily juggled before gathering and charging over the line.
Leinster were piling on the pressure as they sought to stretch their lead before half-time but Harry Tector forced an offload which Nathan Doak hacked into opposition territory. Again, it was Kok who has on hand to capitalise and score.
Two minutes before the break, things got even better for Ulster when Tom Stewart swatted away the challenges of Tector and James Lowe to claim Ulster's third.
Leinster bench makes telling second-half impact
Despite conceding six penalties in the first half, Ulster's blitz defence was proving effective.
Thirteen minutes after the restart, however, Leinster finally got to the outside with Joshua Kenny scoring in the corner.
The Leinster bench had a formidable look to it and the arrival of Paddy McCarthy, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong and Joe McCarthy was helping to swing the momentum.
Leinster's progress, however, was seemingly halted by a yellow card shown to James Ryan for a dangerous clear-out.
The first score of the sin bin came through a Doak penalty but Leinster would outscore Ulster with 14 men thanks to James Lowe's try with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Clinging to a three-point lead, Ulster were shown a yellow card of their own with referee Andrew Brace judging David McCann's knock-on to be deliberate.
With the back row's transgression occurring in the 71st minute, the visitors would finish the game a player short and could not hold on for the win.
Five minutes from time, the pressure finally told as Ulster's ill-discipline was punished with a penalty knocked into the corner for Sheehan and his fellow forwards to drive over the line for the winning try.
Leinster will travel to Thomond Park on 27 December to take on Munster with Ulster travelling to Connacht on the same day.
Ulster: Stockdale; Baloucoune, Postlethwaite, McCloskey, Kok; Murphy, Doak; Bell, Stewart, O'Toole, Sheridan, Irvine, McCann, Timoney (capt), Augustus.
Replacements: Andrew, Crean, Wilson, Hopes, Ward, McKee, Flannery, McIlroy.
Yellow card:
Leinster: Frawley; Kenny, Ioane, Tector, Lowe; Prendergast, McGrath; Boyle, G McCarthy, Slimani, Deeny, Ryan, Soroka, Penny, Conan (capt).
Replacements: Sheehan, P McCarthy, Furlong, J McCarthy, Deegan, Gunne, Byrne, Moloney.
Yellow card: James Ryan
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Category: General Sports
