It was business as usual for Leinster as they cruised past Ulster last Saturday evening at Aviva Stadium.
Despite a well-worked try by the athletic Cormac Izichukwu before half-time, Ulster were easily swatted away by Leinster, who turned on a few moments of magic through Tommy O' Brien and Jamie Osborne.
Ulster were inaccurate in key moments. Failing to stop the Leinster maul before the break gave away any momentum they had. David McCann was sin-binned while the hosts were rewarded a penalty try, following consultation with the TMO.
In typical Leinster fashion, they scored within a minute either side of half-time and it put enough distance between the sides for the league leaders to cruise to victory.
While Leinster were springing multiple internationals from the bench, including hat-trick hero Dan Sheehan, Ulster were losing players just as quickly to injury.
With three games to go in the league and the province sitting in tenth spot, they could do with having a bit of luck on their side.
They lost Stuart McCloskey to an injury in the warm-up, with other key players going off during the game.
Stewart Moore was substituted following a HIA early on. Michael Lowry will go through the return-to-play protocols after being stretchered off as a result of his tackle on Garry Ringrose.
Up front, Ulster lost both loosehead props and hooker Rob Herring also picked up a knock that will be assessed during the week.
That’s not the type of injury report you want to be reading if you are Richie Murphy, facing into the final three games, where every point will matter in their bid to retain their Champions Cup status and a chance to get into the URC play-off positions.
Ulster have struggled for fit bodies at points during the season. They’re a good side that are well able to mix it with the top teams in the league, but if you are constantly waiting on fit bodies, it’s difficult to gather any momentum or build expectation around the group.
Murphy's outfit are a young side, lacking that true depth of experience. They’re an exciting team with a huge amount of potential, but currently they don’t have the consistency of selection or the ability to pick their most experienced players at one time.
Stuart McCloskey, Iain Henderson and Rob Herring are their standout leaders or internationally experienced players. Only one of those made it on to the pitch last weekend.
There are others that have gained an enormous amount of experience without dominating an international spot, like Jacob Stockdale, John Cooney, James Hume, Nick Timoney and Kieran Treadwell, yet they haven’t been playing on the same pitch with their more obvious leaders.
It's been tough for Murphy (above), who has brought a fresh bounce into Ulster and has been recruiting and managing young players as a result of their reported financial issues.
There’s a host of players with high potential in Ulster. While there’s a feeling that this cohort will drive the side on in the medium-term, the short-term result is that they have been inconsistent throughout the season and are still gaining experience on the job.
However, within that inconsistency, Ulster are still only one win away from jumping up the table, which they will be aiming to get on Saturday evening against fourth-placed Sharks. They will also square off against Munster in Limerick and Edinburgh in Scotland.
They will need to pick off two results in those games if they want to leapfrog up the table and contest the play-offs in the BKT URC. That’s not unrealistic either. Belfast is a tough place to go for any team and Ulster have no fear of Munster in Thomond Park.
Considering their injury list, they’ll need some of their young guns to step up once again. The reward for these younger players will be a vast amount of experience and a chance in the play-offs.
Not only that, but despite some of Ulster’s struggles, they have a lot of players that are on the radar of the national side.
With the summer tour taking place in Portugal and Georgia, it’ll be interesting to see how much development Ireland will look for and the selections that they will make to develop the squad.
With the right push across the next three games, Ulster could find some of their players on that tour.
Less experienced guys like James McNabney, Zac Ward, Jude Postlethwaite, Nathan Doak (pictured) and Scott Wilson have every chance of getting on that tour.
Other Ulster players will be looking for another chance in green. Injury has halted Cormac Izichukwu’s international chances, I would expect this to be the opportunity for him to get into the Ireland squad more regularly.
There could be redemption for Jacob Stockdale and Tom O’ Toole, and a long awaited opportunity for Nick Timoney, though that will depend on the Irish management’s outlook on the tour and the objective of this tour.
Ulster could be a lot higher up the table with a small bit more consistency and luck on the injury front. They also look like a side that is developing young internationals. There’s a lot of potential within the group.
There’s a huge opportunity within the next three games to turn their fortunes around and have a good crack at the league play-offs.
If they can do that, I think they would also have a chance of getting more players capped in the summer tour. It could be a cycle of developing successes, with a few more wins leading to more international experience within the group, which they would bring back to their club.
Exciting times lie ahead for the youthful province, but they will need to front up in three difficult games to turn this potential into performance.
