Ulster 10-25 Leinster

INPHO/Darren Kidd
Published 28th Oct 2017
Last updated 28th Oct 2017

Ulster were beaten 10-25 by a clinical Leinster side in the PRO14 at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday evening.

The home province had taken an early lead, but the visitors soon took control and remained in such a position for the majority of the match.

Some naive Leinster defending in the 7th saw them concede a penalty just outside their own 22, which allowed Christian Lealiifano to kick the first points of the evening.

However, it was the visiting province who touched down first with a superb individual try scored by Jordan Larmour.

The early replacement broke down the right in the 16th minute, first side-stepping past Iain Henderon before repeating the trick to wrong-foot Ulster debutant Aaron Cairns, and race clear from the 22. Ross Byrne kicked the extras to put Leinster 7-3 ahead.

Ulster managed a try of their own in response in the 28th minute when Sean Reidy drove over from close range after solid work by the pack during a scrum., and Lealiifano made no mistake with the boot.

2 minutes later, Ross Byrne slotted a penalty to level things at 10-all., and in the 38th he kicked another from inside the 22 to but Leinster 3 points clear before the break.

The visiting province remained in control into the 2nd half, and their efforts paid off in the 60th minute.

A flowing counter-attacking move down the Ulster left flank ended with Luke McGrath diving for the corner to score a try and open an 8-point gap between the sides.

Ulster struggled to find any rhythm, and managed to continuously surrender possession by losing ball on their own line-outs.

Leinster remained in control as the game died out, and Luke McGrath had a simple finish to add his second try in the 79th minute.