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Leinster 30
Ulster 15
THE DRIVE FOR five continues.
It was never going to be pretty against Ulster with rain falling before and throughout this Champions Cup round of 16 tie in Dublin. But Leo Cullen’s side never looked perturbed in a game they grabbed control of after 20 minutes. Their power up front and efficiency in nearly every other area was impressive as they scored three tries.
Leinster march on to a home quarter-final against Leicester Tigers back here at the Aviva Stadium next Friday evening.
They will have noted that defending champions La Rochelle just about avoided being dethroned this evening and remain on course for collision with Leinster in the final in Dublin in May.
Ronan O’Gara’s side, who beat Leinster in last season’s decider and have become their nemesis, managed to squeeze out a late, late win in their round of 16 tie at home to Gloucester. With a man in the bin, they crossed through Teddy Thomas.
So Leinster will still have to beat some good teams if they are to claim this European crown, possibly including Toulouse in Dublin if they reach the semi-finals, but this was a pleasing evening’s work against their inter-provincial rivals.
The outstanding Ryan Baird, influential Jamison Gibson-Park, and muscular Andrew Porter all crossed for tries and though Ulster struck back through James Hume and Rob Herring, they were second best here.
Their cause wasn’t helped by two second-half yellow cards, but those sin-binnings had been coming even in the first half as Leinster piled the pressure on. Whenever they needed to shift up a gear, the home side had it within their armoury.
Captain James Ryan was among those to make big plays as Leinster dominated the exchanges up front. Their might in that area was underlined by being able to bring players as good as Jason Jenkins, Michael Ala’alatoa, and Scott Penny off the bench.
Number eight Jack Conan was named player of the match but it could have gone to a few different Leinster forwards. They turn their attention to Leicester next weekend when they will be heavy favourites again.
With the rain coming down, the opening exchanges were error-strewn but Ulster had the better of it as Leinster made uncharacteristic mistakes, even the ultra-solid Hugo Keenan knocking the ball on in his own 22 after a Billy Burns grubber.
From the subsequent scrum, Leinster gave up two penalties in quick succession and Ulster scrum-half Nathan Doak kicked his side into an 11th-minute lead.
Leinster responded immediately, though, as Ross Byrne hung his restart on Ulster fullback Mike Lowry, the home side counter-rucking to force the visitors to seal off the breakdown. Byrne slotted the three points from straight in front.
After an evenly-balanced first quarter, Leinster took control in the 20th minute. Tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong won a scrum penalty against Rory Sutherland and Byrne nudged his team to within 10 metres of the Ulster line on the right-hand side.
With centre Robbie Henshaw lifting at the front of the lineout, Jack Conan won it to launch a swift series of powerful carries from skipper Ryan, Ross Molony, and Baird, who thundered through David McCann and Sutherland for a TMO-confirmed try converted by Byrne.
The out-half extended Leinster’s lead to 13-3 soon after when the Ulster pack gave up another maul penalty, but Dan McFarland’s men responded impressively.
Ireland international Jacob Stockdale, who hasn’t worn the green jersey since the summer of 2021, launched a garryowen into the Leinster half and followed up to regather it uncontested. With the Leinster defence caught disorganised and narrow, out-half Burns stroked a cross-field kick to centre Hume in acres of space on the right.
Hume stepped back inside James Lowe to finish and though Doak’s conversion effort was wide, Ulster were back in the game at 13-8.
Byrne had a miss off the tee on the half-hour mark after what was a tough penalty against the combative Stuart McCloskey for side entry, but Leinster finished the half in ominous fashion as their pack turned up the power in the closing five minutes.
Conan appeared to have scored from one of Leinster’s clever five-metre tap penalty plays but with Byrne lining up his conversion, a replay suggested that Conan had knocked on. Ulster protested, referee Luke Pearce reviewed, and it was chalked off.
Leinster had been playing penalty advantage and went into the left corner this time, but Ulster’s ferocious tacking just about kept them out. There was another offside penalty against Tom O’Toole, however, and Leinster opted to pop over the three points for an eight-point margin at half-time. Pearce gave Ulster a team warning over their discipline but they remained at 15 men.
16-8 to the good, Leinster had a promising start to the second half as the explosive Baird won a breakdown turnover penalty but they couldn’t break the determined, physical Ulster defence on the ensuing attacking passage, which ended with Porter knocking on as the rain continued to fall.
Gibson-Park’s failure to roll away from a tackle then allowed Ulster a visit into the Leinster 22. It looked like a prime chance to finally get their maul rolling, but second row Ryan picked off Herring’s throw at the front and Leinster cleared.
Cullen’s side continued to target Lowry in the air and he dropped a high ball in his 22 with 50 minutes on the clock, only for Byrne to lose the ball forward as he was tackled while attempting to cross-kick from the turnover.
Still, Ryan managed to block replacement scrum-half John Cooney’s attempted clearance into touch and then pinch the wobbly Ulster lineout in their 22.
Leinster piled the pressure on and when Hume gave up yet another Ulster penalty within metres of the tryline, Pearce sent him to the sin-bin. Leinster sensed their opportunity.
Their forwards went to work off the five-metre lineout, grinding out a penalty advantage and though Henshaw’s attempt to drop a pass out the back to Byrne went to ground, Gibson-Park hovered it up, broke Stockdale’s tackle and gleefully darted past McCloskey to score under the posts. Byrne’s extras had them 23-8 ahead.
It was the old reliable, the maul, that gave 14-man Ulster a lifeline heading towards the final quarter. Leinster’s poor discipline handed them a five-metre lineout and they marched forward for hooker Herring to dot down.
Cooney nailed the conversion for 23-15.
Byrne got too much on his restart and it rolled all the way dead, giving Ulster a scrum in midfield and a chance to ride their new-found momentum, but Leinster said no. Furlong, Dan Sheehan, Porter and co. produced an almighty shove to drive Ulster clean off their own ball and Pearce awarded the penalty.
Outside centre Jimmy O’Brien was held up the first time Leinster surged at the line but Porter forced his way under Duane Vermeulen at the second time of asking and notched their third try just before Hume returned with his team trailing 30-15.
Ulster didn’t stay at 15 for long, with replacement back row Harry Sheridan – impactful until then – shown yellow for making head contact with Byrne. That allowed Leinster to see the game out in peace as La Rochelle just about managed to stay alive over in France. We might see them against each other in another final.
Leinster scorers:
Tries: Ryan Baird, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter
Conversions: Ross Byrne [3 from 3]
Penalties: Ross Byrne [3 from 4]
Ulster scorers:
Tries: James Hume, Rob Herring
Conversions: John Cooney [1 from 1], Nathan Doak [0 from 1]
Penalties: Nathan Doak [1 from 1]
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O’Brien, Robbie Henshaw (Ciarán Frawley ’73), James Lowe; Ross Byrne (Harry Byrne ’73), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath ’67); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy ‘), Dan Sheehan (John McKee ‘), Tadhg Furlong (Michael Ala’alatoa ’64); Ross Molony, James Ryan (captain) (Jason Jenkins ’68); Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier (Scott Penny ’55), Jack Conan.
ULSTER: Mike Lowry; Robert Baloucoune (Ben Moxham ’78), James Hume (yellow card ’52), Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns (Stewart Moore ’55), Nathan Doak (John Cooney ’50); Rory Sutherland (Eric O’Sullivan ’62), Rob Herring (Tom Stewart ’59 – reversal ’58), Tom O’Toole (Jeffery Toomaga-Allen ‘HT); Alan O’Connor (captain), Kieran Treadwell (Marcus Rea ’67); Dave McCann (Harry Sheridan ’47 (yellow card ’69)), Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen
Referee: Luke Pearce [RFU].
Written by Murray Kinsella and posted on the42.ie
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People have been consuming drugs for literally thousands of years!! Ancient Egyptian mummies when examined by scientists who found traces of cocaine in their remains..
Let me repeat, people have always consumed drugs and always will!! Its small minded fools like some of the commenters on this thread who whinge and moan about how bad it would be to legalize and tax! Wake up.
All of the money we could save on chasing dealers, tax revenues, the social programs we could put in place to help addicts as opposed to prosecuting etc etc. There is far more benefits to regulation than prohibition.
Any one of us could pick up the phone and source any quantity of illegal drugs in a very short space of time. Clearly prohibition is not working.
The people who are having a feckin great time are the dealers!! Who get to sell heavily altered and watered down substances, make lots of cash and generally have a laugh at the Gardai!
Also the idea of “illegal drugs” is a social construct.
Maybe if those mummies didn’t consume drugs they would still be alive. my mummy only takes hash and lsd and she’s doing fine
@KrusadingKarl: bodies from thousands of years ago have shown evidence of violent deaths. Slaves in ancient Rome and most other empires were subjected to systematic rape.
People have always been killing and raping.
Imagine what the tax from that could go towards
I’d imagine it would be a high tax as well.
If they tax it too much the dealers would undercut the dispensaries. Just like the illegal tobacco market now.
If they go off the Canadian/american model, legalisation would work fine
No doubt they’d put an Irish twist on it and mess that up too… Seriously though I came across a forum the other day and a lad in North America was saying he could get similar weed on the black market for $6 a gram instead of $10 dollars for the same amount.
Dene , i see what you’re getting at but it wouldn’t be free, as you’ve to buy the seeds and equipment to grow it properly. It also takes time, effort and some skill. Only a handful of people grow their own veg , could you be bothered to go to that effort if there’s a dispensary or a supermarket 5mins down the road.
@Fionn Bohane: i think there is, like all things, a market of people who will still buy the fully legal stuff even if its a few quid more, I know I would. Shops still sell cigarettes, they wouldn’t if people were not buying them!
I get that but high taxes on creates a black market..
Legalise and put the gards back in the streets.
@Louis Jacob:
I agree lets just legalize this and cut out the Bulls**it and control criminal gangs have over it, this is why they blow each others brains out along with innocent people. Walk down any street in Ireland and you will get a smell of cannabis, the demand will not go away, the vacuum is being supplied by very dangerous people.
Legalised wouldnt take it off the streets, unless it is given away for free, which makes the most sense as its stupidly cheap to grow anyway.
Ashbourne? More like Hashbourne
That would have kept them going for a few days.
Well done the boys in blue.
These drugs must be kept off our streets.
Zero tolerance.
Correct me if I’m wrong but does that work out at €1975 per kilo? Is that the going rate? I haven’t a clue but it seems excessive.
They’re saying it’s 20k a kilo because if you break it down into bags that’s the street value but realistically these lads were selling in bulk so their take would be less. I could be wrong myself but I think the going rate is 4k a kilo..
@Brian MacCarthaigh:it works out at €20000 per kg roughly. yes, that is the going rate for good weed sold in small amounts. they calculate the potential value based on it being sold in small amounts at the maximum price it is likely to enter the market; hence the term ‘street value’ and not wholesale.
@Brian MacCarthaigh: ill take two at that price and i don’t even smoke the stuff
somebodys medicine gone.just legalize
Even less in street value, Brian. Gardai seem to think the average price per gram is 20 – 25. You’d easily get two grams for that price
this is what the so called war on drugs leads to —> https://qz.com/900039/dutertes-war-on-drugs-has-created-an-economy-of-murder-in-the-philippines-says-amnesty-international/
If wishes were horses beggars would ride. It is not legal and taxed. It’s not going to bring legal and taxable any time soon so why people keep repeating the same mantra about legalisation and taxing when they know full well it’s not happening is mind boggling.
Very well said …..
@Mick Jordan: it’s getting closer all the time. Don’t try and pretend it’s not changing.
@Finn Bar Regany: garda mick is a legend round these parts
Louis. Is it? Remind me what was the result last vote for general legalisation in the Dail.
@Mick Jordan: You’re right Mick, lets continuing pissing away millions on a war that’s failed miserably. Nothing like continuing do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Can’t get more Irish than that!
Patient. The diffrence between me and you is, if ever it was legalised I wouldn’t constantly moaning and whinging about it being legal on the Journal. I would accept it. You on the other hand simply can’t accept the simple facts as they currently stand. That the majority of the population have no interest in legalising it for general use.
Les. Answer me on question. Is there a push from majority of the general population to get it legalised. Yes or No?
@Mick Jordan: Yes. Look at Colorado, California, Massachusetts, Canada not to far away. Big Pharma doling out nice envelopes to the boys in Congress. Thank god this war is crumbling. The burning question will Trump reverse this.
Brendan. They are on the far side of the Atlantic. And I will ask you the same question I asked Les. Where is the mass movement for legalisation by the majority of the general public?
@Mick Jordan: So as long as the majority don’t want it, we should just continue wasting millions every year? Yeah that makes no sense at all!
Mick , you think we should accept everything without expressing an opinion? I’ll accept a law if I agree with it , if I don’t I’ll question it.Good day.
3monkey. Expressing your opinion I have no problem with. But when the opnion becomes whining then it becomes boring.
Les. So you don’t believe in the the will of the majority?
Is the will of the majority necessarily the right thing ? America , case in point.
So if it’s boring to you , then we can’t question anything ? Because you see it as whining?
3monkey. It becomes whiney and boring when it expressed time after time after time. It is not legal. The majority of the population don’t want it legalised. Build a bridge and get over it. And if a day comes that the majority of the population do want to legalise it I will accept the majority view without complaint.
“Is the Majority view the right thing”. Yes it is if you live in a democracy. I don’t like Enda or his government but they formed the biggest party from the will of the voters. So I accept it.
Paddywackery they call it
That’s your choice Mick , if you view people expressing an opinion repetively as whining then you’ve lost the argument.I don’t see your view expressed here more than once ,of cannabis legalisation as whining.
I’d say you’re job would be a lot easier if it was.
It would make no diffrence to my job legal or illegal.
@Mick Jordan:”The majority of the population dont want it legalised”
Ok Mick, where is your proof of that?
@Mick Jordan: maybe we don’t live in a full democracy mick?
Mick , you could just skip by any article here with ” Cannabis” in the title and you’d never hear our opinions, sorry, whineing.
Mick can u provide evidence that the majority of the country is against it? It’s legal in spain, Portugal, Holland etc. And since Portugal decimalised it crime has gone down dramatically
RuaUisce. Where are the hundreds of thousands marching and demonstrating? Where is the millions of signatures on a petition? That is my proof.
Ah Mick , that’s your argument ? Seriously?
3monkey. Some of the most widely used drugs being sold illegally on our streets are Vallium and Diazoplam. Both are legal when sold under a Doctors perscription. They are regulated and taxed accordingly. Yet criminal gangs make huge profits selling them illegally. Tobacco. Taxed regulated, sold legally, but we still have criminal gangs smuggling huge quantities into the country. Diesel. Taxed regulated, sold legally. Again huge problems with smuggling. Same with Alcohol. Like wise criminals involved in VRT fraud importing cars.
Mick , here’s the thing that’s really going to confuse you.I can grow a cannabis plant under the clear blue sky without ever approaching a dirtbag dealer.Those that don’t grow could , but at a reasonable set price or rate , buy it from a licensed dispensary. Heck it cold even be taxed by a government!!! As for black marketing as you speak of , that’s always going to be there , sick as it is.
Mick have u ever been to a country where it’s legal(bar Holland) and seen how smoothly it works, no kids standing out side trying to get u to buy them stuff, no people falling around wasted. Pharma drugs, the ones you have mentioned are highly addictive and are a terrible comparison to cannabis
Mick , what’s your opinion on the consumption of Alcohol ?
3monkey. I can distill alcohol too. Doesn’t make what I am did legal though. Or I could launder diesel and sell it, legal? No!! So yes you could grow it. But get caught then face the consequences.
3monkey. Alcohol is legal. Because the Majority wish it so. I neither drink or smoke myself so I don’t care. But the simple fact at the heart of this matter is Cannibis is not legal for general use. It is unlikely to be legalised in the foreseeable future because the majority of the Public don’t wish it so. Now if you and those who believe it should be legalised then I suggest you gain majority public support and force a change in the law.
Clever Jake. If you have the support to have it legalised then do it. Otherwise just accept that it is illegal.
No , that wasn’t my question Mick.What’s your opinion on alcohol ?
I gave it. I don’t have an opinion on it either way. But it is legal because the majority wish it so just as tobacco is currently but falling out of favour. So like I said a few times already. Get the majority of the Public behind you and have the law changed. ( I won’t be holding my breath)
Here we go. I was wondering when the crazies would appear.
Clever. If we don’t have a democratic system then how do explain Ming Flanagan getting to be TD or Wallace, Daly, Boyd Barrett or that other lunatic from Kerry (can’t remember his name).
@Clever Jake: If a TD feels that strongly about an issue the whip system would make very little difference. If you don’t like the whip system then don’t join a party.
If all those that want to see it legalised then why don’t you all start your own “Democratic” Party, Stand for election to the Dail, get the biggest number of TD’s elected and then change the laws you don’t agree with. Don’t just whinge about it, do something about it if you can.
Very disappointing Mick. Must try harder.
@Daffy the Bear: That’s the thing Daffy. I don’t have to. I a happy with the way the law stands.
@Mick Jordan:
as long as you are happy mick
that’s the main thing
Great work. I can sleep so peacefully in a drug free Ireland.
There’s a rat in the kitchen…..
Good headline: ash burn.
Oh yeah, can we leave the whole legalization tax benefit to the exchequer red herring aside please.
The state must not seek to benefit from immoral gains in a civilised society.
@Alex Falcone: Lol! ‘immoral’… these threads are the best! :)
Legalise and regulate already!
have your say