Shambolic
Ulster left to Rue St. Stephens stuffing.
Tries for Cain Healy and
Jamie Heaslip coupled with a perfect return
from the boot of Contipomi left Ulster fans
to ask, not for the first time this season,
what went wrong.
Leinster without stars Whitaker, O’Driscoll
and Horgan started well, their pack putting
Ulster under severe pressure. To Ulster’s
credit they stood the test and despite some
tough calls managed to only concede a penalty
which Contepomi slotted with ease.
Ulster looked like they might catch a break
when Le Roux went of injured and was replaced
by Cain Healy. Any hopes of an easier run
were to be dashed as the festively plump
Justin Fitzpatrick looked like he could have
followed Le Roux to the dugout.
A further two penalties gave Leinster a 9-0
lead. Ulster had every right to go into the
break feeling proud of their efforts which
had included being down to 14 men when Boss
was sin-binned for cynically killing the
ball.
The second half started with Wallace missing
what should have been a bread and butter
kick for a professional outhalf but his attempt
fell short. Ulster were soon down to 14 men
again when N.Best was sent to the bin for
an apparent trip on the mercurial Sexton,
who didn’t help with his unsportsmanlike
behaviour after the incident. Contepomi duly
converted to take the score to 12-0. Ulster
were then dealt a hammer-blow to their chances
when replacement prop Healy barged through
two weak tackles, the conversion making it
19-0.
Humphreys was introduced shortly after though
there was to be no repeat of his heroics
of the home fixture as the pack were being
given the run around. Captain Rory Best was
stretchered of with a nasty looking injury
after a collision with Contepomi, if it turns
out to be serious it will be yet another
woe for new coach Matt Williams to face after
losing both Number Eights already.
Heaslip finished the rout finishing from
the Ulster ’22 scoring under the posts.
After this Ulster defended stoutly as Leinster
chased the bonus point and were lucky on
a couple of occasions to hold out; a Luke
Fitzgerald break was halted by the excellent
tracking back of Marshall who then turned
the ball over for Danielli to make a 60metre
sprint which could so easily have been a
try were it not for the assured presence
of Dempsey.
All in all the game would have made tough
watching for any neutrals and made any Ulster
fans despair. Next up we have Munster in
the New Year which one can only hope will
mark a new dawn for Ulster Rugby and it’s
supporters who have endured a brutal past
12months.
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Leinster: G Dempsey, L Fitzgerald, G D'Arcy, F Contepomi, R Kearney, J Sexton, G Easterby; O le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen (capt), M O'Kelly, S Jennings, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: G Brown for Kearney (74), C Warner for Sexton (73), C Keane for Easterby (69), C Healy for le Roux (17), B Blaney for Jackman (78), C Jowitt for O'Kelly (73), S Keogh for Jennings (41).
Ulster: B Cunningham, T Bowe, A Trimble, R Dewey, S Danielli, P Wallace, I Boss; J Fitzpatrick, R Best (cpt), D Fitzpatrick, J Harrison, R Caldwell, N Best, K Dawson, M McCullough. Replacements: B Young, N Brady, C Del Fava, G Webb, D Pollock, P Marshall, D Humphreys.
29 - 0 
