Leinster extended their winning start to the season to seven games after they saw off Ulster by seven-points at a damp Ravenhill tonight.
Luke McGrath, Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O’Brien all touched down before James Culhane’s late score ensured the visitors left Belfast with a five league points while Ulster had to settle for a solitary losing bonus point.
Ben Carson touched down twice for Ulster who led by three points at the break. But it was Leo Cullen’s more experienced outfit that would go on to dominate the second half and claim a deserving win that keeps them top of the URC standings.
Despite squaring up to a Leinster team that was stacked with internationals, it was Ulster who were asking all the early questions.
Nathan Doak’s kick behind the Leinster backline almost found Mike Lowry, but Larmour was first to the ball and Leinster survived.
But it wasn’t long before Ulster broke the deadlock.
In the 5th minute the ball was moved wide quickly and Ben Carson raced down the right-wing to score in the corner after being put in the clear by James McNabney.
But in true Leinster fashion, the reply was as swift as it was deadly.
After putting Ulster under big pressure at the scrum, former Ireland international Luke McGrath went on his own from a scrum to squeeze in at the foot of the post.
After adding their respective conversions, Nathan Doak and Ross Byrne then exchanged penalties to tie the scores at 10-10 after 17 minutes.
Leinster then had to battle without the services of second-row Brian Deeny for 10 minutes following a head-on-head collision with Ulster out-half Aidan Morgan.
Attempting to take full use of their numerical advantage, Ulster turned down the opportunity of kicks at goal from penalties, opting to go to the corner instead. But a normally reliable lineout malfunctioned on more than one occasion and Ulster failed to add to their total.
Doak did add to Ulster’s total in the 29th minute after Ulster elected to kick for the posts, and his successful second penalty of the night helped Ulster to 13-10 lead at the break.
Leinster dominated the opening exchanges of the second half but the defence Ulster was both stout and resilient.
But Leinster were awarded for their dominance in the 50th minute when Larmour jinked his way through the Ulster defence. Jimmy O’Brien exploited a hole in the home defence and when the ball was recycled to Larmour, the Irish International was presented with a chance that he was never going to pass up.
Ulster quickly regained the lead when Carson crashed over from close range, but the lead traded hands again when Larmour turned provider to slip in Jimmy O’Brien for Leinster’s third try of the night.
As the clock ticked ever closer the 80th minute, it was Leinster who seized the opportunity to go and win the game.
Ross Byrne’s clever kick into the Ulster ‘22′ was gathered by Lowry who was quickly dumped into touch giving Leinster the lineout.
Leinster then showed their ruthlessness from five metres when second half replacement Culhane grounded the ball from the resulting maul.
Ulster created one more chance, but again, it was their set-piece that let them down and Leinster hung on for a deserving bonus-point win.
