Ulster Rugby v Leinster

With European matters set aside for a few weeks the Guinness PRO14 battle resumes! A MATCH TO PRODUCE FIREWORKS!

The clocks may go back tonight, and that extra hour may be required tomorrow to recover from the bumps, bruises and headaches which players and supporters will willingly have suffered or induced on this last Saturday evening of October. And Hallowe’en beckons, so there is the opportunity surely for some sporting fireworks as Ulster and its most enduring rival, Leinster, set the fuse alight at kick-off. This game between two great rivals is critical to the clubs’ PRO14 ambitions, but of equal moment to fans is the renewal of the oldest Inter-provincial of them all, first played way back in 1875. In the years since, clashes between the sides have thrown up some superb moments and featured some of the greatest talents the Irish game has ever seen. When Ulster finally found some momentum in the second half against Connacht three weeks ago at Kingspan Stadium an old-fashioned Inter- pro broke out, gritty, exhausting and ultimately decided by a quality of enterprise which, in truth, is not the staple of such fixtures. Charles Piutau and Jacob Stockdale produced a moment of attacking genius to savour and which deservedly decided the outcome: but the attrition of all but a few minutes of the 80 that night had the smell of Inter-pros of old, and it was no less satisfying for that! Leinster and Ulster in combat conjures up the same competitive juices in the players and amongst the supporters, and though the professional game and its other European demands mean coaches Leo Cullen and Les Kiss will want a win to maintain the challenge for supremacy in Conference B of this new-fangled PRO14! Down the ages the fixture was traditionally each side’s final Inter-pro, just before Christmas, and an important showcase for those vying for Ireland places in the Five Nations Championship just a month away. Every player wanted to be available for this game, whether at Leinster’s former home at Donnybrook, or here in Belfast, so Mulcahy, Brophy, O’Reilly, Campbell, Ward, Slattery, Horgan, O’Driscoll, Sexton and a phalanx of legendary names made their case in the blue

of Leinster. For Ulster the cast was just as startling, and Kyle, Henderson, Hewitt, Gibson, Lamont, McBride, Carr, Irwin, Ringland, Humphreys, the brothers Best and Ferris a random sample of those who relished the Leinster Inter-pro in itself and for its potential for further rewards. Undoubtedly the primary concern tonight is securing league points, but it is an Inter-provincial contest be assured, and with Ireland’s autumn internationals just a fortnight away there are parallels with a past when hundreds, rather than thousands, huddled together and were just as passionate about the outcome, just as fevered in their partisan support. Times have changed. Instincts have not, and for the Ulster faithful a win over Leinster would dismiss – for a moment at least! – the record of the professional era which shows Ulster with just seven wins from 36 games in League and European competition! That, over the formal introduction Inter-provincials in 1946/7, and the integration of PRO14 clashes into the championship, Ulster holds a slight edge with 30 titles to Leinster’s 29 is comforting, but a diminishing solace! This evening’s games come after a fortnight devoted to European Champions Cup matters, but those concerns will be ‘parked’ until December while the pursuit of success in the new-look Guinness PRO14 takes priority. That Leinster started in Europe so well will undoubtedly have cemented the belief that Cullen and his assistant Stuart Lancaster have a senior squad capable of making real impacts this season. Ulster’s reverse in La Rochelle, a week after the home win against Wasps, was perhaps anticipated but the scale and manner of the second half collapse confirmed a certain instinct for self-destruction, emphasised the need for greater consistency and underlined the necessity for more heft up front. The character of the team could not be questioned, its first-half tenacity was more than merely admirable, but against a team which will surely be a real power domestically and in Europe

ROD NAWN

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