Ulster miss out as Leinster take honours in top-of-the-table date

In appalling conditions, Leinster coped better in the opening 40 minutes - building up an insurmountable 14-point lead at the interval.

Dan McFarland’s men did rally in the second half and secured a losing bonus point.

Leinster silenced the home crowd with a try on eight minutes.

Ulster won a free kick at the scrum and opted for another set-piece, but the visitors got the nudge on and won a penalty.

They went to the corner, from the lineout they patiently moved the ball across the pitch, they switched back, Garry Ringrose carried strongly before offloading out of the tackle to Dave Kearney and the winger put Ryan Baird over in the corner with Ross Byrne converting.

Ulster wasted their first opportunity to score in the 16th minute.

From a penalty they went to the corner, the driving maul was stopped, the home side had three surges at the line but Leinster were able to hold them up and win a drop out to clear their lines.

John Cooney registered Ulster’s first points with a penalty on 18 minutes.

Leinster responded immediately, they were awarded and kicked to touch.

The forwards set up the driving maul from the lineout and hooker Dan Sheehan was propelled over with Byrne adding the extras.

Byrne stretched Leinster’s half-time lead to 17-3 with a penalty in front of the posts after Matty Rea went off his feet at the ruck.

Byrne was on target with another penalty four minutes after the restart when Ulster infringed at the breakdown just outside the 22.

Leinster dominated territory and possession, but a combination of mistakes and good Ulster defence prevented them from scoring.

Leinster had full back Jimmy O’Brien yellowed-carded on 61 minutes for playing the ball off his feet and Ulster made their numerical advantage count instantly.

Billy Burns kicked the resulting penalty to the corner, the pack set up a textbook catch and drive, with replacement hooker John Andrew touching down at the back of the maul with Cooney converting.

Ulster were denied a try on 67 minutes, from a lineout maul they probed close to the Leinster try line, the ball was spun wide, Mike Lowry dazzled the defence with his footwork before putting Aaron Sexton free.

But the winger was adjudged to have knocked the ball on in the process of scoring.

Cooney’s last act of the game was to slot over a long-range penalty on 71 minutes to bring Ulster to within losing bonus point range.

Ulster wasted an opportunity on 75 minutes when they kicked a penalty to touch but the Leinster defence were able to disrupt the maul and force a turnover.

Ulster had one final chance in injury time to salvage a draw when they forced a scrum on halfway, but Dave Shanahan was caught at the base and turned over by Josh van der Flier, allowing Leinster to kick the ball into touch and seal the victory.

Ulster: M Lowry, A Sexton, L Marshall, S McCloskey, J Stockdale, B Burns, J Cooney, A Warwick, R Herring, T O’Toole, A O’Connor (capt), K Treadwell, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, N Timoney.

Replacements: J Andrew for Herring 22 mins, E O’Sullivan for Warwick 57 mins, M Moore for O’Toole 7 mins, S Carter for Treadwell 64 mins, G Jones for Matty Rea 57 mins, D Shanahan for Cooney 71 mins, A Curtis for Marshall 71 mins, B Moxham for Stockdale 41 mins.

Leinster: J O’Brien, J Larmour, G Ringrose (capt), R Henshaw, D Kearney, R Byrne, L McGrath, A Porter, D Sheehan, M Ala’alatoa, R Molony, J Jenkins; R Baird, J van der Flier, J Conan,

Replacements: J McKee, E Byrne for Porter 63 mins, V Abdaladzefor Ala’alatoa 71 mins, J Ryan for Jenkins 55 mins, W Connors for Baird 66 mins, N McCarthy for McGrath 66 mins, J Sexton for R Byrne 66 mins, C Ngatai for Kearney 41 mins.

Referee: A Brace.