Ulster Rugby vs Leinster

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OPPOSITION
TODAY’S OPPOSITION
As Leinster Rugby face into Round 21 of
the GUINNESS PRO12 they sit in top spot
with only two games of the regular season
remaining. As a result, this weekend’s trip to
fourth-place Ulster in Kingspan Stadium will
have a major bearing on who finishes in the
top two and in the Play-Off spots as well.
leinsterrugby
leinsterrugby
CLUB STATS
//Location
Dublin, Ireland
//Founded
1879
//Ground
Royal Dublin Society Arena
//Capacity
18,000
//Last Game
Edinburgh Rugby (H) 30 - 23 (W)
Fri 15th Aprol 2016 at 19:35
//Next Game
Benetton Treviso (H)
Sat 7th May 2016 at 15:00
//Recent Form
W L L W W
STAFF
// Coach
Leo Cullen
// Captain
Jamie Heaslip
CONTACT
Newstead Building A,
UCD, Belfield
Dublin 4
T +353 1 269 3224
F +353 1 269 3142
E
TICKET OFFICE
T +353 1 223 5103
leinsterrugby
Over the course of the 20 PRO12 games to date, Leinster Head
Coach Leo Cullen has had to navigate a number of challenges in
his first season in the Leinster hot seat.
In the first seven rounds of the PRO12, with the Rugby World Cup
in full swing, a relatively young squad managed to win five games
from seven with a losing bonus point to show from the other two.
Academy players Ross Byrne and Garry Ringrose, in addition
to Tadhg Beirne, Tony Ryan, Hayden Triggs and Royce Burke-
Flynn all made their debuts. Other players like Cathal Marsh,
Cian Kelleher, Peter Dooley, Josh van der Flier, Dan Leavy, Bryan
Byrne and Ross Molony added more caps and experience to
their playing CVs as the Irish province finished off the first block
of PRO12 games in the top four.
Since then the number of players used by Cullen this season has
increased to 56 in total, with further debuts for summer signing
Mick Kearney – signed from Connacht last summer but out of
action until February due to a toe injury – and Academy players
Nick McCarthy, Peadar Timmins, Jeremy Loughman and Joey
Carbery.
Now as they face into the final stretch of PRO12 games they find
themselves in the Play-Off places with the best defensive record
in the league.
However good form in the PRO12 has been somewhat diluted
by a poor run of results in Europe where a loss in each of the
opening four rounds left them out of Europe before Christmas
despite some very encouraging performances and indeed two
losing bonus points in the away loss to Bath and the home loss
to three time reigning champions Toulon.
The encouraging performances finally resulted in a win in Round
5 when they accounted for a Bath Rugby side with it all still to
play for in Europe. The game was also used to blood some
European newcomers and some of the debutants mentioned
above plus a few others were thrown in at the deep end and
no fewer than six players made their European starting debuts
against Bath, including Man of the Match, Ross Molony.
Their focus is now fully on the PRO12 with a trip to Belfast
this weekend, however a quick glance at last year’s game will
provide ample evidence of the size of the task in store as Ulster
restricted the men in blue to just 10 points and no points at all in
the second half, with Ulster winning the contest 26-10 due to tries
from Craig Gilroy and Iain Henderson.
Two proud provinces fighting for PRO12 Play-Off spots and
home semi-finals - something has to give!