Late Culhane try does the job for Leinster

MATCH REPORT: Leinster managed to hang on for dear life to secure victory over Ulster at Ravenhill Stadium on Friday evening with a 27-20 win in the United Rugby Championship.

Leinster are now seven points ahead of nearest challengers Glasgow Warriors, who beat Scarlets at home.

James Culhane’s 74th-minute try ensured another Leinster bonus-point win to stay top of the URC.

Luke McGrath, Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O’Brien and Culhane grabbed the four tries that delivered the five points. The early contrast in styles between Leinster’s ball retention and Ulster’s more pragmatic approach made for an interesting opening gambit.

However, Leinster’s failure to find touch from Larmour’s rescue of a dangerous position caused by Nathan Doak’s kick returned to bite them.

The ploy to play to space was rewarded as sympathetic passes from Werner Kok and James McNabney put Ben Carson away for the first try, converted by Doak. Leinster took advantage of Ulster’s inability to control the restart.

The pressure paved the way for a penalty. Captain Jack Conan opted for the scrum and the Blues’ front five drove forward. Scrum-half McGrath arced between defenders for a try, converted by Ross Byrne to make it seven-all in the 12th minute.

Brian Deeny saw yellow for a head-to-head contact on Aidan Morgan and Doak opted to take the points from the resulting penalty to open up a 10-7 lead for the home side.

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The loss of Will Connors to a yellow was mitigated by the return of Boyle and the addition of Scott Penny but sustained pressure earned a Doak penalty to give Ulster a 13-10 lead on the half hour. Leinster were quickly into their phase game, Ross Byrne’s fizzing pass to Larmour undermined by Stewart Moore’s work on the floor.

Ulster held a three-point advantage at the break.

Leinster were quicker to settle into the second half, with McGrath’s kick causing problems, Penny carrying straight, and Larmour appearing on the shoulder of Ross Byrne to threaten.

Timoney was binned for a head-on-head contact, handing Leinster a one-man advantage they had to use correctly. Ross Byrne’s astute kick almost created a chance for Larmour while O’Brien and Andrew Osborne combined well on the left.

Byrne gave the visitors the lead for the first time, with the score 13-17 in the 50th minute.

With Timoney back, Ulster struck after Jimmy O’Brien put a ball out on the full. Camped in Leinster’s 22, Carson surged through for his second with Doak’s conversion of the 55th-minute effort putting Ulster 20-17 ahead.

The pattern continued as four minutes later; Leinster had the lead. This time a penalty was put to the corner and after a strong drive from Lee Barron, the ball was spun at pace, Larmour delivering for Jimmy O’Brien in the corner.

It was back to Ulster then and they responded with a penalty and excellent kick from James Humphreys only for the men in blue to nick the lineout and clear, ultimately seeing out the clock too.

The scorers:

For Ulster:

Tries: Carson 2

Cons: Doak 2

Pens: Doak 2

For Leinster:

Tries: McGrath, Larmour, J O'Brien, Culhane

Cons: R Byrne 2

Pens: R Byrne

Teams:

Ulster: 15 Stewart Moore, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Ben Carson, 12 Jude Postlethwaite, 11 Micheal Lowry, 10 Aidan Morgan, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 David McCann, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 James McNabney, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Alan O’Connor (captain), 3 Scott Wilson, 2 James McCormick, 1 Eric O’Sullivan.

Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Corrie Barrett, 19 Harry Sheridan, 20 Marcus Rea, 21 John Cooney, 22 James Humphreys, 23 Ben Moxham.

Leinster: 15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Liam Turner, 12 Charlie Tector, 11 Andrew Osborne, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan (captain) 7 Will Connors, 6 Max Deegan, 5 Brian Deeny, 4 Diarmuid Mangan, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 John McKee, 1 Jack Boyle.

Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Micheal Milne, 18 Rory McGuire, 19 RG Snyman, 20 James Culhane, 21 Fintan Gunne, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Scott Penny.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Andrew Cole (Ireland), Andrew Fogarty (Ireland)

TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)