Rob Herring ‘massively disappointed’ after Ulster's capitulation against Leinster in Dublin

Ulster looked on course to cut Leo Cullen’s side’s lead at the summit considerably when Ethan McIlroy’s try on 36 minutes in Dublin gave the visitors a 22-3 advantage playing against Leinster’s 14 men, after Ireland and British Lions prop Cian Healy had been red-carded for a head-on-head collision with hooker Tom Stewart 16 minutes earlier.

However, playing with a numerical advantage Ulster’s defence and discipline let them down in the second-half, conceding 35 unanswered points and shipping yellow cards for centre James Hume and No.8 Nick Timoney.

Hooker Rob Herring – who came off the bench to score Ulster’s first try as Stewart was unable to continue after the Healy tackle – felt opposite number Ronan Kelleher’s try just before the break swung momentum Leinster’s way.

“Massively disappointed,” was Herring’s snap assessment of the result.

“It was before the second-half, that maul try just before half-time, that gave them so much energy.

“They came out in the second-half with the wind at our backs and we didn't manage territory too well.

“I think in the forwards, we had a few mauls where they got the upper hand on us and that gave them access into the game.”

The Ireland hooker feels there is much work to be done before Ulster travel to the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday to face Sale in the opening European game.

“We've got to get better at changing momentum in the game, we had a man up and we lost key moments,” Herring said.

“When we go into the Champions Cup next week the competition is strong again, so we've got to find ways to acknowledge when momentum isn't going our way and to be able to flip that.”

Ross Byrne’s third minute penalty gave Leinster the lead before John Cooney levelled the scores seven minutes later with a kick off the tee.

Following Healy’s dismissal, Herring, Kieran Treadwell and McIlroy all went over for tries with Cooney converting two.

Byrne converted Kelleher’s try to cut Ulster’s interval lead to 22-10.

Leinster captain Garry Ringrose’s two converted tries either side of Hume’s sin-binning gave Leinster the lead.

With Timoney cooling off for 10 minutes Andrew Porter sealed Leinster’s bonus point with a fourth try.

Ireland winger James Lowe had a easy walk-in to score the home’s side’s fifth try and gave Leinster an unassailable lead.

Lock Sam Carter’s late touchdown gave Ulster the consolation of a losing bonus point.

Ulster: M Lowry, E McElroy, J Hume, S McCloskey, S Moore; B Burns, J Cooney, A Warwick, T Stewart, M Moore, A O’Connor, K Treadwell, Ian Henderson (capt), Marcus Rea, N Timoney.

Replacements: R Herring for Stewart 20 mins, C Reid for Warwick 73 mins, T O’Toole for M Moore 52 mins, S Carter for Treadwell 52 mins, D Vermeulen for Henderson 57 mins, N Doak for Cooney 45 mins, J Stockdale for Hume 70 mins, Matty Rea for Timoney 74 mins.