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Contentious call helps Leinster pip Ulster in top-of-the-table clash

By PA
Charlie Ngatai of Leinster knocks the ball from the grasp of Aaron Sexton of Ulster to prevent a try during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Leinster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. (Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

A dominant first half helped Leinster triumph 20-13 and go three wins from three in a top-of-the-table Irish derby clash with Ulster at a rain-swept Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.

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Tries from Ryan Baird and Dan Sheehan, along with two conversions and two penalties from Ross Byrne, brought Leinster the four points on an evening when Ireland skipper Johnny Sexton made his first appearance of the season off the bench.

After trailing 17-3 at the break, Ulster battled back through a John Andrew try which was supplemented by two penalties and a conversion from John Cooney to claim the losing bonus point.

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Leinster’s Baird scored the game’s first points after seven minutes when the visitors moved the ball at pace down the left flank, with quick hands from Garry Ringrose and Dave Kearney creating the space for Baird to make the corner.

Byrne added a great conversion to make it 7-0 to the visitors.

Two minutes after the quarter-of-an-hour mark, Cooney landed a long-range penalty to narrow Leinster’s lead.

On 20 minutes, Leinster had their second try when Sheehan smashed his way over from a lineout maul which Byrne again converted.

The remainder of the half was dominated by a torrential downpour and the only score came from the boot of Byrne after Leinster opted for the posts with a 37th-minute penalty.

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The opening 40 minutes ended with Leinster leading 17-3

Jacob Stockdale failed to return for the new half after picking up a worrying-looking ankle problem, having endured a similar issue last season.

Leinster’s lead became 20-3 five minutes after the restart, with Byrne’s second penalty.

With Jimmy O’Brien sin-binned in the 61st minute, Ulster put the penalty to the corner and, from the maul, replacement hooker Andrew touched down. Cooney’s conversion cut Leinster’s lead to 10 points.

Ulster worked Aaron Sexton over the line in the 68th minute only for Charlie Ngatai to dislodge the ball in the act of scoring and the try was ruled out.

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Cooney kicked a 71st-minute penalty to make it 20-13 to Leinster but, from there, the game petered out with neither side able to score again.

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Tom 55 minutes ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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