The ruthless Leinster plays his cards right in the defeat of Ulster

Ulster 19 Leinster 38

An anti-climate occasion to seal the anti-climate end of the Conference campaigns. Leinster sealed their place in the final on March 27, where they will surely face Munster, after this extra points win over their closest rivals and neighbors.

A fast-paced opening half-hour had challenged another fanless affair, with Ulster blazing for a 12-3 lead, before Leinster responded like true champions to advance 17-12, and all while Frank Murphy brandished three yellow cards, two of them to visitors.

Whereupon the contest was effectively decided when Murphy, largely at the urging of an overtly influential Olly Hodges like TMO, decided to red card Ulster mainstay Andrew Warwick for leading Ed Byrne on a carry with his left elbow.

Murphy was willing to brandish what would have already been his fourth yellow card of the game, but Hodges encouraged him to continually rewatch the incident. In Warwick’s defense, these things always look worse in slow motion, there was little to no force in his action, and Byrne didn’t help him get in touch too high himself.

With Stuart McCloskey having been eliminated moments earlier, Leinster quickly scored the third try against 13 men, giving himself the second period to seal his place in the final with one more try. They did it for hours.

In truth, Leinster’s well-oiled efficiency is such that he would have won without Warwick’s red card. Despite missing 15 top-tier internationals for the Irish team, they barely made a mistake from start to finish.

His pack was super efficient in scrum, lineout, ruck and maul, and true to type, they were absolutely ruthless within the opposition 22.

Scott Penny once again turned heads with his low center of gravity and comprehensive abilities and Luke McGrath remains the heart of the team. For Ulster, ultimately, there are few redeeming characteristics, although after a year out of the game, Robert Baloucoune hardly seemed like he had been absent, Nick Timoney and Michael Lowry had big games too.

There were five yellow cards and one red, and the penalty count was 16-10 against Ulster, who dominated the game. In fairness to Murphy, player safety, especially around the head, is paramount and, as a former scrum half, his demanding demand that tacklers stay away ensures a high pace. But it sure does have a tendency to dominate games.

There was actually something of a pre-kickoff atmosphere when the two squads did their animated warm-ups, and Fatboy Slim’s Right Here Right Now seemed like a suitable track for Ulster on the night.

The two teams returned to Stand Up for the Ulstermen, after which there was silence as they lined up for kickoff. There is no getting used to this.

Leinster was faster in his stride when Ross Byrne opened the scoring before Devin Toner was ruled out in review for a high arm on Michael Lowry. He was not sanctioned, but a review generated a yellow card for the veteran.

Ulster went for the jugular, opting to face the seven-man group with successive mauls before Marcell Coetzee launched into Byrne and Rory O’Loughlin’s tackles for his ninth Pro14 try of the season. Cooney was converted.

Then Ulster maximized its numerical advantage by utilizing the full width of the tone through multiple high tempo phases. Strong-looking Jacob Stockdale moved down the left, Lowry down the middle, before Madigan took Kieran Treadwell’s return volley and McCloskey also took the ball off the tackle with one hand.

With a two-on-one, John Andrew timed his pass perfectly to give Baloucoune a wide opening, needing all his strength to take tackles from Max O’Reilly and Dave Kearney, and all of his 6-foot-4s to score in the corner at his first start in over a year after a serious hamstring injury.

Cooney’s conversion hit the post, but to compound matters for Leinster, on review Jimmy O’Brien was knocked out by a high head-to-head hit on Madigan early in the play.

So it came as a surprise that against 13 men, Cooney not once but twice opted for box shots. Upon Toner’s return, Leinster responded with a massive scrum and worked twice on the Ulster defense before opting for a pair of pens under the posts. There was an equal inevitability in the attempt when Michael Bent was shut down.

Best followed by the champs after Jimmy O’Brien earned a high kick from Byrne and was abruptly transferred to Cian Kelleher. When the ball was worked to the left, Max O’Reilly shot and opened the Ulster defense before unloading Luke McGrath inside.

McCloskey was removed for illegally preventing recycling and had to be removed. It was just a stay of execution as, more of the same, Josh van der Flier scored.

The red card for Warwick, who had replaced Eric O’Sullivan from the start, meant the game was over, and it had been great too.

Coetzee, seemingly paralyzed, was replaced by the returning O’Sullivan and against 13 men, Leinster went through the gears. O’Brien turned down an assist to score attempts going to the line when Stockdale held it superbly, but from the recycling and the umpteenth penalty lead, Ed Byrne went ahead and Byrne converted.

A strong carry from James Hume almost earned Ulster a response, but they walked shaky and 24-12 behind.

All the noise on the field seemed to be coming from the men in blue before the home team briefly came to life 10 minutes after the second half when Baloucoune jumped on a Cooney pass to veer into Ross Byrne and skid over the line.

Please indicate the Murphy and Hodges spectacle as they considered McCloskey’s decoy run that triggered a Ruddock tackle to constitute an obstruction.

Instead, after a triple substitution that saw Madigan limping and Lowry moving midway, and a procession of penalties, Leinster hit the Ulster line with three tap penalties.

Ulster’s resistance was fierce but futile, as Ruddock took the lead for the fourth attempt before the hour, Leinster’s 13th attacking bonus point in 14 games.

The home team prolonged the assault on the Leinster line amid another procession of penalties, and a yellow card for Ruddock sent Timoney squirming.

There was still time for Murphy to get the bin Ulster academy to block Cormac Izuchukwu, who had been leading impressively, and Dan Sheehan to maul at the lineout for his fifth attempt.

By then, the contest had long become more than just a sham.

Scoring sequence: 5 minutes Byrne pen 0-3; 9 minutes Coetzee try, Cooney with 7-3; 14 minutes Baloucoune try 12-3; 25 minutes Bent try, Byrne with 12-10; 28 minutes of van der Flier’s test, Byrne with 12-17; 37 minutes E Byrne try, R Byrne with 12-24; (half time 12-24); 57 minutes of attempt by Ruddock, Byrne with 12/31; 72 minute attempt by Timoney, Lowry with 19-31; 78 minutes of Sheahan’s attempt, Byrne with 19-38.

Ulster: Michael Lowry; Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Ian Madigan, John Cooney; Eric O’Sullivan, John Andrew, Tom O’Toole; Alan O’Connor, Kieran Treadwell; Nick Timoney, Jordi Murphy (captain), Marcell Coetzee. Replacements: Andrew Warwick for O’Sullivan (26 minutes), O’Sullivan for Coetzee (34 minutes), Adam McBurney for Andrew (half time), Cormac Izuchukwu for Treadwell, Sean Reidy for Murphy, Rob Lyttle for Madigan (51 minutes), Marty Moore for O’Toole, Stewart Moore for Hume (both 61 minutes), Alby Mathewson for Cooney (71 minutes). Yellow card: McCloskey (27-37 minutes), Izuchukwu (77 minutes). Red card: Warwick (30 minutes).

Leinster: Max O’Reilly; Cian Kelleher, Jimmy O’Brien, Rory O’Loughlin, Dave Kearney; Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath (captain); Ed Byrne, James Tracy, Michael Bent; Devin Toner, Scott Fardy; Rhys Ruddock, Josh van der Flier, Scott Penny. Replacements: Josh Murphy for van der Flier (break), Dan Sheahan for Tracy, Peter Dooley for E Byrne, Thomas Clarkson for Bent (58 minutes), Ross Molony for Fardy (63 minutes), Jamie Osborne for O’Brien, Jack Dunne for Toner (both 73 minutes). Rowan Osborne for McGrath (76 minutes). Yellow cards: Toner (7-17 minutes), O’Brien (15-25 minutes), Ruddock (71-80 minutes).

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU).