Leinster Rugby was made to work hard for their 27-20 bonus point win over Ulster Rugby, continuing their seven-match unbeaten streak in the 2024/25 United Rugby Championship season.
It took Ulster just five minutes to score the first try of the match when Ulster recycled a ball quickly, and James McNabney found space before setting Ben Carson free down the right wing for the opening score. Nathan Doak's kick is on target from a difficult angle.
Ulster made a mess of the restart, and a fumble by Nathan Doak gave Leinster a scrum under the posts. Leinster opted to scrum again after an initial penalty. Scrumhalf Luke McGrath sniped from the back of a dominant scrum and had the pace to get over the line and Ross Byrne converted to level the scores 07-07 after ten minutes of play.
The rest of the first half with an arm wrestle with Nathan Doak converting two penalties for Ulster while Ross Byrne added one for Leinster. Ulster led 13-10 at the halftime break.
Ulster dominated the statistics at the halftime break with 64% territorial advantage and 62% of the possession.
Leinster started to dominate early in the second half, and following wave after wave of attacks Ross Byrne made a great pass putting Jordan Larmour in a gap to score Leinster's second try to extend their lead to 17-13 following a Ross Byrne conversion.
Five minutes later following several errors by the Leinster's backs, Ulster's forwards launched several attacks until centre Ben Carson took a couple of defenders with him before scoring Ulster's second try to retake the lead 20-17 after Nathan Doak converted.
Leinster replied almost immediately when Jimmy O'Brien scored Leinster's third try to lead 22-20 after twenty minutes of play in the second half.
Leinster continued to increase the pressure which led to several penalties conceded by Ulster. With five minutes still to play James Culhane scored off a five-meter lineout-maul to extend Leinster's lead to 27-20.
Ulster attacked with purpose during the final minutes of the match, however, Leinster hung on for a 27-20 bonus point win.
Scorers:
Ulster Rugby: Tries: Ben Carson (2). Conversions: Nathan Doak (2). Penalties: Nathan Doak (2).
Leinster Rugby: Tries: Luke McGrath, Jordan Lamour, Jimmy O'Brien, James Culhane. Conversions: Ross Byrne (2). Penalty: Ross Byrne.
Teams:
Ulster Rugby: 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 (c), 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 Rugby: 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 (c) 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.