OFFICIALS FROM LEINSTER and Ulster are set for some interesting discussions this week as the northern province prepares for their ‘home’ Pro12 Grand Final on 25 May.
Ulster, who defeated Scarlets in their semi-final on Friday, earned the right to have the final at their home ground. With the main stand at Ravenhill scheduled for demolition in the coming days, the club, with permission from Leinster, designated the RDS as their ground of choice for the final. The opponents, awkwardly enough, are Leinster.
Ulster hooker Rory Best tells TheScore.ie that playing in Dublin, in front of a sizeable travelling contingent of supporters, is not a daunting prospect. “Throughout the season,” he said, “throughout 22 games, we earned the right to be number one seeds and we’ll take that confidence into the final.”
Best added that Ulster’s 22-18 league win over Leinster, at the RDS earlier this year, was ‘a monkey off the back’. The victory ended a 13-year wait for an away win over the Blues.
Weekend off
Leinster coach Joe Schmidt must focus on Friday’s Challenge Cup Final against Stade Francais [also at the RDS] before the Pro12 finale comes into focus. Ulster, however, were not far from his thoughts. Following his side’s 17-15 win over Glasgow Warriors, Schmidt said:
We beat them three times last season, they’ve beaten us twice this season. That would suggest they are doing better than we are and that is why they finished top of the league table. It’s going to be a really good test for us. They’ve also got the luxury of a lead-in [to the final] of 15 days.
“That’s going to be a really tough challenge for us because we have to head out against Stade Francais on Friday night and I think that is going to be an incredibly tough game. They’ve got nothing left to play for… they tore Bath apart in the quarter finals of the Amlin Cup.”
Asked if he had learned from the experiences of playing European and domestic finals in the past two season, Schmidt remarked, “I’ve learned that this job is going to kill me.”
“It’s heart in the mouth stuff,” the Kiwi added. “It’s such an exciting time and you’re delighted that you’re not on holiday. The players can’t wait until the next 24, 48 hours so they can walk again and this going to be a massive game.
“Last year we had an eight-day turnaround to the Pro12 Final and we were terribly unlucky. Maybe we got a bit of luck tonight and if we can buy a bit more in the next week or two I’ll be delighted.”
*Additional reporting by Megan Joyce of The Front Row Union.
