Leinster beat Irish rivals Ulster in a bruising 19-6 win at home in Dublin in the RaboDirect PRO12.

The reigning RaboDirect PRO12 champions seemed to have everything against them prior to the today’s encounter at the RDS having suffered back-to-back defeats, while Ulster were looking for their sixth win on the bounce.

Ulster boss Mark Anscombe opted for nine changes to the team that beat Zebre 13-6 at home while his opposite number Matt O’Connor retained nine of the starting XV that lost to Edinburgh last week.

Both sides traded early blows with the boot and Ulster took an early lead when Paddy Jackson slotted through the uprights after Leinster were penalised at the breakdown.

Shortly after Leinster fly-half Jimmy Gopperth levelled the scores, but two minutes later another effort drifted wide.

In front of a roaring home crowd Leinster had the majority of possession but were unable to break a strong Ulster defence when it came to the final ten metres.

After 14 minutes Leinster had a chance to take the lead for the first time when Ulster tighthead Declan Fitzpatrick was caught offside but Gopperth’s third attempt was pushed right of the posts.

Leinster then exploded into life when Mike McCarthy snatched an Ulster lineout and centre Noel Reid broke through the defensive line to set up the attack. However the home side gave away a penalty yards from try-line.

Despite being on the backfoot Ulster took the lead for the second time through the boot of Jackson.

Leinster tighthead Mike Ross – a blood replacement for Martin Moore – was penalised for offside at the ruck and Jackson’s long-range effort flew straight through the sticks.

However, in what would be a turning point in the game, Ulster openside flanker Sean Doyle was yellow carded for not moving away from the tackle following earlier warning from referee John Lacey.

A minute later Leinster were able to capitalise in the face of a short benched Ulster, Luke Fitzgerald was able to break and with a one-handed offload found Jordi Murphy who powered over the line. Gopperth slotted home to make it 10-6.

Leinster drew first blood in the second half through the boot of Gopperth who made it 13-6 from a penalty on 49 minutes.

However Ulster went on the front foot with replacements Ruan Pienaar at scrum-half and Jared Payne on for full-back Ricky Andrew leading the attack.

Leinster suffered a blow when Irish international Sean O’Brien was taken off for Dominic Ryan having suffered what looked to be an injury to his left shoulder.

However they earned welcome relief against the Ulster attack when Gopperth slotted home a penalty to increase the lead to ten points.

And four minutes later Gopperth took his tally to 14 points with his fourth penalty of the night right in front of the sticks taking the score to 19-6.

Ulster, who failed to earn any second half points came close to scoring a try in the closing minutes of the match.
They were awarded a scrum six metres from the tryline after Leinster knocked on in the tackle.

The ball was shipped out to Jackson who chipped the ball through to chasing Payne who, under pressure from Ian Madigan, was ruled by the TMO to have knocked the ball forward with his fingertips leaving the visitors short of picking up a losing bonus point.

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