Six-try Leinster overpower Ulster to book semi-final date with Bulls in South Africa

They came with a smart plan, run by a brilliant John Cooney, but the number of tight-five injuries ultimately cost them and the home side enjoyed a rehabilitative 80 minutes.

The 18,148 got a good contest and the Ulster fans in the crowd could go home with some optimism about the future under Richie Murphy.

For those bedecked in blue, it’s all about getting the job done at altitude in Pretoria and again the following week in the final.

It’ll be a logistical challenge and they’re wasting no time as they fly to the highveld tomorrow to give themselves the best possible chance.

Joe McCarthy speaking after Leinster's win over Ulster

The Bulls will be without World Cup winning winger Kurt-Lee Arendse for next week’s clash and the speedster could miss the series against Ireland in July after fracturing his cheekbone in his side’s win over Benetton at Loftus Versfeld.

Having restored most of his Champions Cup final players to the team, Leo Cullen had challenged them to deliver and, while Ulster exposed major flaws with the way Jordan Larmour and Jimmy O’Brien dealt with the high ball, Leinster did deliver by running in six tries. They’ll face a step up this week and the furious intensity they started with will be the minimum required.

A lost Dan Sheehan lineout let Ulster off the hook and for the rest of the first quarter they dominated the air and created chances. Not getting the first score came back to bite them.

Leinster had some big defensive moments. James Ryan brilliant denied Matty Rea’s offload as he tried to find John Cooney’s trailing run after a superb surge from Cormac Izuchukwu, before man of the match Joe McCarthy held Nick Timoney up over the line.

When an attack ran aground thanks to a Tadhg Furlong knock-on and Jacob Stockdale rushed Robbie Henshaw into touch, Ulster were beginning to believe.

But the sight of Izuchukwu going off for a head injury was a major blow and they never recovered. Within seconds, they were under their posts.

A rare poor chase was punished ruthlessly as Furlong neatly put Jamie Osborne through a gap and, having ignored Jamison Gibson-Park on his left, the Naas native powered through Stewart Moore’s poor attempt at a tackle and found Robbie Henshaw on his right.

The Ireland centre scored, Ross Byrne converted and followed it up with a penalty.

The hosts were making their tight-five advantage count, with Ryan Baird hounding Rob Herring out of touch, the collisions increasingly going their way and McCarthy winning a big penalty on the ground.

They made it 17-0 when they brought their best attack of the evening just as Ulster produced their worst, with James Lowe running a great line inside Byrne and powering past Eric O’Sullivan, Moore and Harry Sheridan to score.

Byrne’s conversion was good, but they got away with one in first-half injury time after Baird had coughed up a silly penalty and Billy Burns went to the corner.

Ulster’s driving maul was headed towards the line when Doris stopped it illegally, but Andrew Brace stopped short of a penalty try.

They went to the corner again and Ryan coughed up a penalty, before their third attempt was thwarted by more Baird brilliance in the air.

Cooney got his side off the mark three minutes after the break, taking the points when Henshaw played the ball after O’Brien had failed to deal with another bomb.

Whatever optimism Ulster drew from his kick was quashed by some Lowe magic down the left as he rescued a Byrne cross-kick with a deft touch with his left foot, controlled it and then gleefully pounced.

The conversion came back off the upright and Ulster kept the faith, despite losing Jacob Stockdale to injury.

Andrew Porter chased a lost ruck too far and Burns pumped the penalty into the corner. Leinster again offended at the maul, but Cooney cleverly found Dave McCann lurking on the wing and the flanker scored.

His scrum-half missed the conversion, then Moore spilled the restart and made amends by brilliantly denying Gibson-Park off a Doris break.

Byrne’s chip evaded O’Brien in the corner and Ulster remained just about within reach until Larmour scorched over on the right wing after Moore had failed to deal with a high ball and McCarthy had pounced.

Moore pulled a try back from Ethan McIlroy’s clever chip, but Leinster weren’t going to let this one slip and they worked a nice score for Josh van der Flier.

Ross Molony got over for a sixth before Mike Lowry rounded out a troubled season for Ulster with a consolation try.

Scorers – Leinster: J Lowe 2 tries, R Henshaw, J Larmour, J van der Flier, R Molony try each; R Byrne 4 cons, pen, S Prendergast con; Ulster: D McCann, S Moore, M Lowry try each; J Cooney pen, con;

Leinster: J O’Brien; J Larmour, R Henshaw, J Osborne, J Lowe (C Frawley 66); R Byrne (S Prendergast 70), J Gibson-Park (L McGrath 64); A Porter (C Healy 66), D Sheehan (R Kelleher 55), T Furlong (M Ala’alatoa 44); J McCarthy, J Ryan (capt) (R Molony 64); R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris (M Deegan 72).

Ulster: S Moore; M Lowry, W Addison (J Postlethwaite 65), S McCloskey, J Stockdale (E McIlroy 48); B Burns (N Doak 57), J Cooney; E O’Sullivan (A Warwick 53), R Herring (capt) (T Stewart 70), T O’Toole (S Wilson 69); H Sheridan, C Izuchukwu (G Jones 18); M Rea (D Ewers 65), D McCann, N Timoney.

Referee: A Brace (IRFU)