DAN McFARLAND SAYS Robbie Henshaw’s unpunished tackle on Robert Baloucoune wasn’t the decisive factor in Ulster’s Rainbow Cup defeat to Leinster, even though the in-form centre went on to score the crucial third try for the home side.
Henshaw floored Ulster wing Baloucoune with a huge tackle in the first half, which was examined by referee Mike Adamson following a captain’s challenge from Iain Henderson.
Adamson gave the tackle a second viewing but decided against showing Henshaw a card, to Henderson’s clear disbelief. Henshaw was removed for a HIA following the incident, but returned to play a central role in Leinster’s powerful second half display, and scored the game’s decisive score as the hosts came from behind to power to a 21-17 win.
“I couldn’t hear what Mike Adamson said,” McFarland explained.
“The view that we have, it looked to me that if had been a collision with the body and then up to the head, it should have been a yellow card. However, I’m not privy to all the angles and I wasn’t watching that closely. Mike made the decision there and it is what it is.
“I don’t think it was decisive anyway, but it meant that we lost our captain’s challenge, which was disappointing.”
Overall McFarland said he was encouraged by Ulster’s performance, particularly given the manner of their defeat to Munster at Thomond Park last week.
“I’d be really happy with our defence,” he said. “The lads really got stuck in this week. They drove it themselves and I thought the effort out there was absolutely outstanding, and for a lot of that game we kept one of the best attacking sides in Europe very quiet.
“In terms of creating things I thought we probably did a better job, in terms of finishing things we definitely didn’t do a better job.
“I thought our scrum went well, we got the try off big pressure on their ball. There were a lot of really good attacks, certainly through the middle of the park where we created a lot of opportunities, but unfortunately we couldn’t finish those off.
“There were far too many turnovers that were really of our own doing.”
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen also pinpointed his side’s accuracy as an area in which they can look to sharpen up in the coming weeks.
His team now head into two weekends off – enviously watching next Saturday’s Champions Cup final between La Rochelle and Toulouse from a distance – before taking on Glasgow and the Dragons.
“I thought the scramble was good, defensively. Ulster came out wounded I guess,” Cullen said.
“You knew they would after their last few weeks. We knew it was going to be a real tough, physical battle out there today.
“I thought the intent was good, we probably just lacked a bit of accuracy and a number of facets of the game, but it’s a good win against a team that we knew would be highly motivated.
“Overall, it’s a good win. Ulster were pretty motivated. A bit frustrating from our end, we scored our third try around 60 minutes in, so still a good 20 minutes to go and we can’t quite kick on.
“Our accuracy levels left us down, so unfortunately we weren’t quite good enough today. I think the effort was good but accuracy definitely needs work.”
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