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united rugby championship
It’s now a cool seven for league leaders Leinster, who continue to rack up wins. When they fell 13-10 to Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast on Friday evening, one wondered if they had finally found their match.
But three tries in the second half saw them secure a 27-20 bonus point win to extend their lead at the top of the table to seven points.
That’s now 34 of a possible 35 points for Leo Cullen’s side, who have picked up where they left off in the opening block of the BKT URC match after a four-week break.
Cullen said: “Neither team is sure what to expect from this game as they haven’t played in a while.
“You’ll probably see the game reflect that. It was a bit disjointed at times due to a few different interruptions.
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“The first half was pretty crappy and we were down 13-10, but we definitely took a big step forward in the second half. We are much better.
“We had a bit of an edge, we played in the right areas and I’m glad we scored some good tries.
“Ulster came back in and went all the way down. We had some big defensive sets.
“We knew how difficult it would be here, so we are happy to get the win and get the five points. Although it was pretty ugly sometimes. “It wasn’t perfect, but we’ll accept it.”
Leinster skipper Jack Conan shared his thoughts: “We knew it was going to be incredibly difficult to get here.
“Ulster are an incredibly tenacious team. They lasted 80 minutes so we are happy to get the win.
“You could tell we started a little slow, but we came into our own in the second half and were able to put a few points on the board.”
Full-back Jimmy O’Brien, who was named player of the match in front of a crowd of 16,491, added: “I love playing here.
“The crowd was unbelievable. Very hostile. It feels like they’re all against you, which is a good thing that brings you all together.
“It’s always difficult here. Last season we lost here, so I was really happy to win. I thought our pack was great. “I couldn’t believe it.”
