URC: Leinster 41 Ulster 17 

Despite a difficult night off the kicking tee on his return to the side at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen insisted he is happy with the form of the versatile Ciaran Frawley.

WHILE IT IS perhaps only in recent times that some of those on the outside have taken notice, Leo Cullen stressed that he and his fellow Leinster coaches were always aware of Tommy O’Brien’s potential.

A debutant for the province as far back as December 2019, the former Blackrock College student has been a member of the Leinster senior squad since the summer of 2020. While he had accumulated 21 appearances in blue by May 2022, an anterior cruciate ligament injury meant it was another 11 months before his next outing at provincial level.

He did manage eight starts across the 2023/24 season, but issues with his ankle and hamstring have halted O’Brien’s momentum at certain stages in recent years. Yet the past couple of months has seen him enjoying an extended run in the Leinster side and having crossed the whitewash in his first European start against Glasgow Warriors eight days earlier, he maintained his impressive form at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

In addition to displaying his pace and skill on the way to scoring the opening try of the game on the stroke of 20 minutes, a delicate kick from the 26-year-old released Dan Sheehan for the first of his three tries as a replacement in a 41-17 victory over interprovincial rivals Ulster in the United Rugby Championship.

“We would have always seen it from a training point of view. It’s just staying sound, consistency. We would have seen it for a long time, but he’s just been unlucky. That happens with players, but we’ve all seen it for a long time and he’s a great competitor Tommy,” Cullen remarked.

“You can see 50/50 balls, he just makes his own. From his own kick through [for Sheehan’s try], it’s a 50/50 which he wins. Similar off the chip through [for his try], the 50/50 that he wins. He’s going well.”

Another man who has had his injury troubles in the past – albeit before his arrival at the eastern province – is South African international RG Snyman. During his time at Munster from 2020 to 2024, it was largely due to a brace of ACL injuries that the Springbok second row was restricted to just 20 appearances.

He has already managed 17 outings with his current employers, but there was some concern on Saturday when Snyman was withdrawn on 71 minutes – just 18 minutes after he had been brought on to replace Joe McCarthy.

Yet Cullen was quick to allay any fears that he had a serious issue to deal with in the aftermath of the game.

“He’s fine. Max [Deegan] is on the bench. We’re like ‘who are we going to bring him on for?’ He [Snyman] just got a bit of a dead leg and we said we’d take him off. The lads are getting into him inside there. No, he’s fine.

“Max is there. He’s the last person and we’re like ‘how do you get him on’. The lads [in the back-row] we thought were going pretty well. Alex [Soroka], Scott Penny and James [Culhane]. So we left them out there and made the call. Not a big deal.”

Snyman was the only one of Leinster’s three overseas signings for the current campaign to see game time at Irish Rugby HQ on Saturday with both Rabah Slimani and Jordie Barrett afforded rests for a win that saw the Blues moving nine points clear at the URC summit.

The absence of Barrett opened the door for Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose to reconnect in the Leinster midfield. As well as being pleased with how this centre partnership performed on the night, Cullen was pleased to see Jamie Osborne and Jimmy O’Brien producing some good passages of play alongside the aforementioned Tommy O’Brien in the province’s back-three.

“Competition is no harm for all of us, is it? Robbie and Garry were excellent. Really pleasing. Everyone knows they need to go well and everyone is coming up with big moments at different stages,” Cullen added.

“Jamie comes up with some good moments, Jimmy comes up with big moments. Particularly defensively, whacked a couple of guys. Obviously Tommy took his try incredibly well. Lots of good stuff from everyone really.”

Daire Walsh

IT WAS ALWAYS likely to be a difficult task against a team that had lost just one of the 20 games they had played in all competitions this season, but Ulster’s cause in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening wasn’t helped by a considerable injury toll.

After Stuart McCloskey was ruled out a short while before kick-off in their eventual 41-17 defeat to interprovincial rivals Leinster in the URC, Stewart Moore was promoted from the bench to take his spot at inside centre. However, the Ballymoney native was subsequently replaced 16 minutes into the action and this was followed by the withdrawal of fullback Michael Lowry on a stretcher just past the first-quarter mark.

There was further injury concern when both starting loosehead Callum Reid and his replacement in the front-row, Andrew Warwick, were forced off the field of play in the 39th and 62nd minutes respectively.

Speaking after the game, Ulster head coach Richie Murphy offered a sense of what he and his backroom team had to contend with on the night.

“Obviously losing Stu McCloskey before the game is difficult and then losing Stu Moore in the game to concussion is obviously difficult. He [McCloskey] picked up a little bit of a tight groin during the week. We were hoping that he would come through and be ready, but it was felt during the warm-up that he wasn’t quite right and it was wrong to play him. We pulled him at that stage,” Murphy explained.

Michael Lowry thankfully seems to be okay. He’s in hospital, but he’s okay. The scans have come back quite clear and two looseheads have struggled towards the back end of the game.

“Callum Reid is [a] knee. I don’t know exactly what it is in his knee, but he’s definitely knee and Andy Warwick had a neck thing going on. A big toll I suppose, but we just have to see where we are on Monday and go from there.”

As a consequence of suffering their eighth reversal in 15 games, Ulster now occupy 10th spot in the URC standings on 37 points – two places and three points adrift of the top-eight.

Losing out to Leinster by 24 points in advance of their remaining league fixtures against the Sharks (home), Munster and Edinburgh (both away) could potentially affect the morale within the Ulster camp.

Yet Murphy will nevertheless look to glean as many positives as he can from a game against a side that had held both Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors scoreless in the European Champions Cup over the previous fortnight.

Additionally, the Wicklow man – a former Leinster player who later became the province’s skills and kicking coach – also pointed to some areas where he felt his opponents could have been penalised over the course of the contest.

“I think we’ll just move on. We scored 17 points against them. No one has scored for the last couple of weeks against them.

That gives us something. Going in there, we had a bit of a plan. We couldn’t quite execute it. Again, it comes down to trying to create that quick ruck ball off that first, second phase,” Murphy added.

“Massive effort from our lads, you see it all the way to the end of the game. Something that over the last number of weeks that I think is really starting to come to the fore. Very proud of the effort. There is definitely things in our game that we can improve pretty quickly and some things that just frustrate us in or around breakdown.

“Their line speed is incredible, but is it always coming from an onside position? I’d question that. The scrum dominance they had in the first half, we didn’t feel that was right. We felt they were stepping around the corner and the breakdown? Go and have a look yourself.”

Leinster 41

Ulster 17

Daire Walsh reports from the Aviva Stadium

DAN SHEEHAN GRABBED a second half hat-trick from the bench at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday as Leinster moved nine points clear at the summit of the United Rugby Championship table with a commanding bonus point triumph over interprovincial rivals Ulster.

Introduced in the 47th minute, Sheehan produced an all-action display to ensure Leo Cullen’s men secured their 14th win from 15 in the URC with minimal fuss.

Ulster were forced into a late change just before kick-off in Irish Rugby HQ with Stewart Moore promoted from the replacements bench to take the place of Stuart McCloskey at inside centre – a change that also saw former Ireland U20s star Wilhelm De Klerk being added to the match day 23.

Despite the set-back of losing the experienced and influential McCloskey, the visitors enjoyed the lion’s share of possession during the early stages in Ballsbridge.

Leinster hadn’t conceded a single point in European Champions Cup knockout clashes against Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors in the previous fortnight, but a successful penalty from fly-half Jack Murphy – son of head coach Richie Murphy – at least meant that Ulster wouldn’t suffer the same fate.

This was an encouraging start for Ulster, but there was to be a further blow on the injury front for the away team as Moore and Michael Lowry were forced off in the 16th and 21st minutes respectively. Whereas De Klerk was thrust into action to replace the former after initially expecting to just be a travelling reserve, former Leinster and Connacht scrum-half John Cooney indirectly deputised for the latter.

Ulster found themselves in arrears by the time Cooney entered the fray as the in-form Tommy O’Brien chipped the ball over the head of the retreating Nathan Doak just shy of the first-quarter mark before regathering possession to eventually dot down in fine style. Although Ciaran Frawley was off-target from the resulting conversion, the versatile Irish international supplied the extras to Thomas Clarkson’s powerful finish off an extended attacking move in the 28th minute.

This latest try left Leinster nine points to the good, only for Ulster to come roaring back into contention in a frantic end to the opening period.

From an attack that started with Doak superbly claiming his box kick, Cooney released Cormac Izuchukwu through a defensive gap with an elaborate pass and the towering lock proceeded to impressively burst over the Leinster try-line.

A routine bonus strike from Jack Murphy looked set to leave Ulster just two points adrift at the break, but Leinster ultimately brought a 19-10 cushion into the interval when referee Gianluca Gnecchi awarded them a 40th minute penalty try following consultation with TMO Stefano Penne.

Ulster received an additional set-back when No 8 David McCann was yellow carded for his role in this incident and as a consequence, it looked like a difficult second half was in store for the northern province.

A Leinster team within reach of a bonus point is always a dangerous proposition and their fourth try duly arrived when Garry Ringrose capitalised on excellent approach work from Jamie Osborne and Scott Penny to touch down in the right-corner on 42 minutes.

This put them in pole position to secure a maximum haul from this fixture, but the 51st minute sin-binning of Diarmuid Mangan did open the door for Ulster to forge a potential fightback.

Yet with the Irish international front-row of Andrew Porter, Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong being introduced off the bench along with RG Snyman, Leinster made light of their temporary numerical deficiency.

Sheehan came into this encounter with an astounding haul of nine tries in just eight appearances for province and country in 2025 and following a delicate kick to the right-flank by player of the match Tommy O’Brien, the hooker was left with a simple finish in the corner on 58 minutes.

The Dublin native’s return from an anterior cruciate ligament sustained on Ireland’s tour of South Africa last summer has been a huge plus for Leinster in recent months and he doubled his tally for the night inside the final-quarter via a pass from fellow international Sam Prendergast – who was introduced for Robbie Henshaw on 62 minutes.

Ulster finally disrupted this second period scoring blitz from Leinster with a converted try from replacement Matthew Dalton, but it seemed inevitable the hosts would finish the action on a high. Capitalising on some fine work in attack from Fintan Gunne, Sheehan raced over the line to complete his hat-trick in the 78th minute.

Leinster scorers:

Tries – Dan Sheehan 3, Tommy O’Brien, Thomas Clarkson, Garry Ringrose, Penalty Try

Conversions – Ciaran Frawley [1/4], Sam Prendergast [1/2]

Ulster scorers:

Tries – Cormac Izuchukwu

Conversions – Jack Murphy [1/1]

Penalties – Jack Murphy [1/1]

LEINSTER: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O’Brien (Liam Turner ’62), Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw (Sam Prendergast ’62), Jimmy O’Brien, Ciaran Frawley, Luke McGrath (Fintan Gunne ’59); Jack Boyle (Andrew Porter ’47), Gus McCarthy (Dan Sheehan ’47), Thomas Clarkson (Tadhg Furlong ’47); Joe McCarthy (RG Snyman ’53 (Max Deegan ’71)), Diarmuid Mangan; Alex Soroka, Scott Penny, James Culhane.

ULSTER: Michael Lowry (John Cooney ’21); Zac Ward, Jude Postlethwaite, Stewart Moore (Wilhelm De Klerk ’16), Jacob Stockdale; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak; Andrew Warwick (Callum Reid ’39 (Tom O’Toole ‘62)), Rob Herring (Tom Stewart ‘40), Tom O’Toole (Scott Wilson ’57); Alan O’Connor (Kieran Treadwell ’47), Cormac Izuchukwu (Matthew Dalton ’48); James McNabney (Matty Rea ’61), Nick Timoney, David McCann.

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR).

URC: Leinster 41 Ulster 17 

Dan Sheehan grabbed a second half hat-trick from the bench at the Aviva Stadium this evening as Leinster moved nine points clear at the summit of the United Rugby Championship table with a commanding bonus point triumph over interprovincial rivals Ulster.