Leinster claimed a deserved 8–3 victory over Ulster on Friday evening. In a defence-dominated game, Sean Cronin scored the only try in the 36th minute. Jonathan Sexton had kicked an earlier penalty. Josh van der Flier, Marty Moore and Luke Fitzgerald were the stand out players, with Fitzgerald winning Man-of-the-Match. Leo Cullen’s men left evident signs of progression in their play having lost their last outing in the RDS by 33 points against Wasps. Their scrum is improving slightly as they claimed three penalties from that source in the first half on Friday. It was noticeable that Jack McGrath and his front row teammates were out to make a statement of intent at the first scrum. Leinster played a wide game and had more possession than the Ulstermen but too many handling errors in their opponent’s 22 prevented them winning by a bigger margin. The post-World Cup blues seems to have extended to the supporters, as there were many empty seats in the RDS for this interprovincial clash.
The Ulstermen had moments of real quality in the first half of the game but Leinster held them at arm’s length. Stuart McCloskey and Craig Gilroy gave it their best shot to try and crack Leinster’s defensive line but nothing came of it. For their part, Ulster didn’t contribute much to the game. They ended up defending in their own 22 far too many times. Paddy Jackson missed a routine penalty early in the game but then successfully kicked one shortly after. Ulster could not add any more points to their tally. Les Kiss admitted it was a disappointing performance. His side have now dropped to seventh in the table so there’s a lot riding on next Friday’s game against Edinburgh.
Munster were particularly poor in the first half of the game against Connacht on Saturday evening. The home side were taken aback by the hunger and commitment of the visitors. Anthony Foley’s side struggled to get their hands on the ball for long periods of the game. They missed 15 tackles in the build up to Connacht’s first try, spending most of their time backpedalling. Munster did score an impressive try from a set piece 5-metre lineout maul and drive, their second was a penalty try awarded by Ben Whitehouse making it a one-point game. Munster upped the intensity after this but nothing came from it. Connacht were down to fourteen men for ten minutes but the hosts couldn’t take advantage of this. Overall, it was a bad day at the office for the Munster men, but as an individual, CJ Stander put in another impressive display. He was the best ‘Irish’ player on the pitch and he is really growing as a captain. If he keeps up the good work he will surely be called up to the Ireland squad in the spring.
PRO12 leaders Connacht secured their first victory, since 1986, in Thomond Park this weekend. Pat Lam’s side came out of the dressing room all guns blazing for this interprovincial clash. They dominated all areas of the game and put their heart and soul into every tackle they made. Craig Ronaldson kicked the opening points of the game, which was soon followed by an opportunist try from Tiernan O’Halloran in the 18th minute. Both sides frantically searched for the score that would seal a victory towards the end of the game and it was Aki who got the second try for Connacht in the dying minutes. He finished in spectacular form, diving over the try line in the left corner. Connacht have been dealt with a major blow today as they will have to plan without Robbie Henshaw and Denis Buckley for the coming weeks. Both picked up injuries in the win over Munster this weekend and are expected to be out of action for a while. This may not be completely detrimental to Connacht’s chances, considering how well they have played this season, putting themselves in a great position on top of the table.
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