THEIR SEASON IS heating up, and Friday night saw Leinster take another promising step in the right direction, beating a strong Ulster side despite selecting a team stripped of most of the players who featured in last weekend’s Champions Cup quarter-final.
A riveting interpro derby started with Leinster dominating for the best part of an hour, building a 29-0 lead while playing some of their best rugby of the season, only to see Ulster muster a spirited fightback – the home side’s three unanswered tries cutting the deficit to just eight points by the end.
Leinster will feel they could have made more of their early dominance, and perhaps handled Ulster’s late surge more effectively, but in the end, this was a statement win that suggests the province are building nicely for the challenges that lie ahead.
Next weekend Leinster play Benetton away, before returning to the Aviva Stadium for their Champions Cup semi-final date with Toulon. The final two regular season URC rounds sees Leinster host the Lions and Ospreys, with last night’s 29-21 win pushing the defending champions up to third in the table, leapfrogging Ulster in the process.
“I thought the guys started really well, great intent, played the game in the right area and had some chances, didn’t necessarily take them all now,” Cullen said.
“I thought the lads controlled the game really, really well and similar the start of the second half. We looked strong, carrying, moving the ball to space and good variety in our game.
“I thought it was good, credit to the players. I thought they were great.
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“But Ulster, as we knew they would at some point, they had a real purple match. It’s probably not helped by us and then with Max (Deegan) obviously taking out Werner Kok in the air, you’re playing pretty much the rest of the game with 14 players.
“It’s challenging when you’re 14 players and you’re down a forward. It was a little bit scrappy after that, I thought, but credit to Ulster. They came back, very good attacking team, have scored a lot of tries this season, particularly when they’re playing at home.”
Sam Prendergast was one of Leinster’s standout performers on his return to the team. Coming out of his difficult Six Nations, the young out-half missed out on Leinster’s matchday squads for the Champions Cup wins over Edinburgh and Sale Sharks.
Back in the 10 shirt last night, the 23-year-old will be frustrated with some aspects of his game but overall it was an assured performance that came with some classy moments – Prendergast scoring Leinster’s bonus-point try after his sharp pass had played an important part in Jimmy O’Brien’s earlier score, while also kicking four from five attempts off the tee.
Prendergast makes a break against Ulster. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
“Yeah, and he just kept his head down working away, and it’s frustrating for a number of guys in terms of selection at the moment because it’s a competitive group and that’s what we want,” Cullen said.
“We talked about it all year, X amount of guys away with the Lions at the start of the year, there was lots of guys getting opportunities, so it’s great for that building depth which, listen, we’re at this stage of the season where it’s very competitive now.
Sam is a good example of that. He’s just had to be patient and I thought he was great there today.
“He managed the game, managed the territory battle particularly well, and obviously comes up with some big moments himself individually, so it was a great overall performance.”
Prendergast was far from the only player who delivered as a refreshed Leinster selection quickly dismissed any concerns the rate of rotation may lead to a lack of cohesion.
And for all the internationals in the side, it was some of the less heralded boys in blue who put their stamp on the game, with the likes of Thomas Clarkson, Brian Deeny, James Culhane and Alex Soroka all delivering big plays.
The game also saw Ed Byrne line out for Leinster again, having re-joined the club earlier in the week in light of their injury problems at loosehead. Byrne represented Leinster over 100 times before joining Cardiff in 2024.
Cullen confirmed Byrne can only be added to Leinster’s Champions Cup squad if it becomes a needs-must situation for Leinster.
“He’s not in our (Champions Cup) squad so it would have to be if we had no other front-row, and no other looseheads specifically, basically, is the way it works – emergency front row cover basically. That’s obviously more of a common-sense approach, isn’t it?
“The beauty of it is for us is that he’s a hugely experienced player in the Leinster jersey so when he comes in the door, missed training on Monday morning, he was saying his goodbyes to Cardiff, and comes into the gym.
“He comes into the gym, some lift in terms of energy to the building. It was class. I said to ‘Cheese’ (James Ryan) during the week I was a bit emotional when I was seeing him (Byrne). It was cool. It was great to get him back in there.”
Leinster had no fresh injury concerns to report after the game.
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'Sam's just had to be patient, I thought he was great'
THEIR SEASON IS heating up, and Friday night saw Leinster take another promising step in the right direction, beating a strong Ulster side despite selecting a team stripped of most of the players who featured in last weekend’s Champions Cup quarter-final.
A riveting interpro derby started with Leinster dominating for the best part of an hour, building a 29-0 lead while playing some of their best rugby of the season, only to see Ulster muster a spirited fightback – the home side’s three unanswered tries cutting the deficit to just eight points by the end.
Leinster will feel they could have made more of their early dominance, and perhaps handled Ulster’s late surge more effectively, but in the end, this was a statement win that suggests the province are building nicely for the challenges that lie ahead.
Next weekend Leinster play Benetton away, before returning to the Aviva Stadium for their Champions Cup semi-final date with Toulon. The final two regular season URC rounds sees Leinster host the Lions and Ospreys, with last night’s 29-21 win pushing the defending champions up to third in the table, leapfrogging Ulster in the process.
“I thought the guys started really well, great intent, played the game in the right area and had some chances, didn’t necessarily take them all now,” Cullen said.
“I thought the lads controlled the game really, really well and similar the start of the second half. We looked strong, carrying, moving the ball to space and good variety in our game.
“I thought it was good, credit to the players. I thought they were great.
“But Ulster, as we knew they would at some point, they had a real purple match. It’s probably not helped by us and then with Max (Deegan) obviously taking out Werner Kok in the air, you’re playing pretty much the rest of the game with 14 players.
“It’s challenging when you’re 14 players and you’re down a forward. It was a little bit scrappy after that, I thought, but credit to Ulster. They came back, very good attacking team, have scored a lot of tries this season, particularly when they’re playing at home.”
Sam Prendergast was one of Leinster’s standout performers on his return to the team. Coming out of his difficult Six Nations, the young out-half missed out on Leinster’s matchday squads for the Champions Cup wins over Edinburgh and Sale Sharks.
Back in the 10 shirt last night, the 23-year-old will be frustrated with some aspects of his game but overall it was an assured performance that came with some classy moments – Prendergast scoring Leinster’s bonus-point try after his sharp pass had played an important part in Jimmy O’Brien’s earlier score, while also kicking four from five attempts off the tee.
“Yeah, and he just kept his head down working away, and it’s frustrating for a number of guys in terms of selection at the moment because it’s a competitive group and that’s what we want,” Cullen said.
“We talked about it all year, X amount of guys away with the Lions at the start of the year, there was lots of guys getting opportunities, so it’s great for that building depth which, listen, we’re at this stage of the season where it’s very competitive now.
“He managed the game, managed the territory battle particularly well, and obviously comes up with some big moments himself individually, so it was a great overall performance.”
Prendergast was far from the only player who delivered as a refreshed Leinster selection quickly dismissed any concerns the rate of rotation may lead to a lack of cohesion.
And for all the internationals in the side, it was some of the less heralded boys in blue who put their stamp on the game, with the likes of Thomas Clarkson, Brian Deeny, James Culhane and Alex Soroka all delivering big plays.
The game also saw Ed Byrne line out for Leinster again, having re-joined the club earlier in the week in light of their injury problems at loosehead. Byrne represented Leinster over 100 times before joining Cardiff in 2024.
Cullen confirmed Byrne can only be added to Leinster’s Champions Cup squad if it becomes a needs-must situation for Leinster.
“He’s not in our (Champions Cup) squad so it would have to be if we had no other front-row, and no other looseheads specifically, basically, is the way it works – emergency front row cover basically. That’s obviously more of a common-sense approach, isn’t it?
“The beauty of it is for us is that he’s a hugely experienced player in the Leinster jersey so when he comes in the door, missed training on Monday morning, he was saying his goodbyes to Cardiff, and comes into the gym.
“He comes into the gym, some lift in terms of energy to the building. It was class. I said to ‘Cheese’ (James Ryan) during the week I was a bit emotional when I was seeing him (Byrne). It was cool. It was great to get him back in there.”
Leinster had no fresh injury concerns to report after the game.
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Leo Cullen Reaction Sam Prendergast URC