THE YEAR 1999 is one that Ulster rugby supporters look back upon with great fondness.
It was near the start of ’99 that the province became Ireland’s first ever Heineken Cup champions.
Later that year they visited Donnybrook and emerged with a win they would be destined not to repeat for 14 years.
All that came to an end at 8pm tonight after a well-deserved 22-18 win thanks to Robbie Diack and Iain Henderson tries, selfless defence and assured kicking from Ruan Pienaar.
Speaking to RTÉ after the match, man-of-the-match Pienaar said, “It was very tough. We haven’t managed to beat them at their pitch for over 13 years.
“It has been a tough couple of weeks and a couple of results haven’t gone our way… our defence was brilliant.” Pienaar added:
We are glad to get our season back on track. It is great preparation to go to Twickenham and face Saracens next week.
“The guys really stepped up.”
Slow moves day
Leinster coach Joe Schmidt came out to face the RTÉ cameras and he brought several gripes with him.
He lamented Ulster ‘fellas lying on the ball’ in a frantic nine minute period of constant Leinster pressure near the death.
Asked if Ulster had acted illegally in slowing the ball down, Schmidt responded, “I think people will make their own minds up. All we ask for is consistency.
“At Ravenhill [when Leinster lost 27-19] there was one penalty at the scrum and it was a penalty try. There were four scrum penalties at the end of this match and no penalty try [awarded].
“You work hard for a reward and when you think you’ve earned it, it doesn’t come. All you can ask for is consistency.”
Here are the match highlights:
YouTube credit: RaboDirectPRO12
