IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Calvin Nash 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Stuart McCloskey 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Craig Casey
1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Finlay Bealham 4. Joe McCarthy 5. James Ryan 6. Ryan Baird 7. Caelan Doris (captain) 8. Jack Conan
16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Jeremy Loughman 18. Tom O’Toole 19. Iain Henderson 20. Josh van der Flier 21. Jamison Gibson-Park 22. Harry Byrne 23. Jordan Larmour
Italy : 15 Ange Capuozzo 14 Lorenzo Pani 13 Juan Ignacio Brex 12 Tommaso Menoncello 11 Monty Ioane 10 Paolo Garbisi 9 Stephen Varney
1 January 2024 – Jason Jenkins of Leinster in a maul during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Ulster at RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Ulster exploited our D in the first 20 and that was very significant.
A game like this shouldn’t be decided by an interpretation of the laws, or lack thereof, but I really feel it was today, players on or off their feet, when use it is called or not, whether or not a tackler is held, they are big moments and weren’t decided by the players.
That said, the wrong pass at the wrong time at the end, not looking for the drop goal, there are problems to be fixed
Rich Mifsud
Well can’t say we didn’t deserve that tbh and the stupid fucking ending simply drew a line under that performance. Fair fucks to Ulster putting in a huge shift on D but our game management and decision making left a lot to be desired.
All the right decision making and game management in similar conditions at LAR went to rat shit (admittedly with different personnel)
To be honest I actually expected more of these types of performances given the changes in systems brought in by Nienaber. Not to have seen more is to our credit
Kevin Kelehan
Fair play to Ulster closing it out, they took the squad rotation handicap perfectly, James Ryan’s absence once again fatal for Leinster in a tight game
Sean Michaels
Ulster showed greater desire in awful conditions. Thought some of our decision making on field was questionable. We seemed intent on giving possession away with some poor box kicking, and kicking out of hand, when it seemed more logical to keep it tight and build momentum. Unfortunately, whilst Mr Murphy was not too kind to Leinster he was not the reason we lost. Apart from the LR game I think we have been generally poor and have had a couple of fortunate results which has tended to paper over the cracks
Cian Ormond
Beaten by the better team, no complaints there. The chances to win were available and they were missed. Still top of the table though, the clash with Benetton is more interesting now.
Colin McConaghie (Ulster fan)
Brilliant! Loved every minute 😁 we really exploited the space out wide and Billy Burns was absolutely superb
Well done Ulster. Could have went either way. #LEIvULS
Credit to Ulster, took the points when they could and held us up well on their own line in final qtr though our decision making not the best IMO the DG was right there. Time to regroup and rethink before visit of Stade. #LEIvULS
26 December 2023; Ryan Baird of Leinster wins a lineout during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Leinster did what they needed to do and were deserving winners. On a side note I lost a lot of respect for O’Callaghan after his rant about Snyman coming to Leinster. His point about holding Irish players back might have carried more weight if he saad the same thing when he signed for Munster. I’m sorry but he sounded petty and bitter and I would expect more from him. He’s usually one of the best pundits to be fair but he did himself no favours this evening. I’m still going to enjoy celebrating another Leinster win in Thomond mind you.
Dave Murray
Ugly win with the conditions but a good win all the same. A kind of game a certain Jacques Nienabar might like with a forward dominated game with the conditions but great effort by the players. Joe McCarthy deserved POTM
Kevin Kelehan
Terrible conditions, very strong Munster defence but Leinster just made fewer mistakes.
Eamon Saunders
Not pretty to watch but a win nonetheless,move on to the next 👏👏
Chris McDonnell
We need to stop this harry byrne sillyness. Oh and mcgrath was just awful too. Thankfully We just dominated their pack
Far from a classic but the right team won and the right player got PotM. Best leave it at that for now! #MUNvLEI
HARPIN' ON RUGBY 