Cormac Izuchukwu marked his return from a two-month injury absence with a try at the Aviva Stadium but it wasn’t enough to help Ulster take any match points against United Rugby Championship leaders Leinster as Richie Murphy’s side suffered a 41-17 defeat in Dublin.

Ulster had started the weekend in sixth but have now dropped out of the play-off places and sit 10th in the table, with three games remaining.

The defeat was not only costly in terms of league position but Ulster also shipped a number of key injuries.

Stuart McCloskey had to withdraw during the warm-up and his replacement Stewart Moore lasted only 15 minutes before departing with an injury, while five minutes later Mike Lowry left the Aviva pitch on a stretcher to get a scan in hospital. Replacement prop Callum Reid also picked up an injury.

placeholder image — Ulster's Cormac Izuchukwu. (Photo by Liam McBurney/PA)

“Initially I thought it was just an ankle twist but it turned out to be a little bit more, it was like a bit of bone bruising and stuff,” said Izuchukwu. “That was kind of tough to take. I was hoping to be back for maybe in two weeks' time but I was told pretty quickly that it was looking like two months, so a lot of it was off feet.

“I obviously found it tough being out for two months, playing against a team like Leinster, the pace of the game and the physicality, so I enjoyed it but it definitely was tough.

“For me when I put on an Ulster jersey, because there's so much history there, and with lads, again, I keep saying it, but boys like Al O'Connor have been there so much, all I want to do is show him that I'm part of this club and I want to make him proud of me.

“For me it's just feeling proud to be out there with them and obviously trying to put on a show for Ulster itself.

“There's not a lot of thinking really being done there. It's just try and get to the line as quick as you can so I figured just run to the line and don't really worry about the defenders too much.”

Ulster were outscored by seven tries to two from a much-changed Leinster, with Izuchukwu summing up the feeling in the changing room.

“To be honest there was a lot of frustration,” he said. “We felt like we maybe missed a couple of moments, we were thinking that, whilst we came into the game, thinking that we should win it and we can win it. During the game, the first half was the same thing, it was pretty tight, I think just a couple of times on our try line, they did kind of like a maul trick play, and I missed a moment there.”

Ulster face a crucial game against the Sharks in Belfast on Saturday night.

“It's massive and obviously it's our last home game of the season too, so it's huge for us,” he said. “I actually watched their game on Friday night, they’re a class team, they've got some real good players out there that can have moments of brilliance. It's something we've already spoken about after the game, that we're touching on, what can we learn from Leinster, and I hope we can take that to next week and hopefully get a win because ultimately that's what we're here to do, is win.”