The Leinster Under-19 team, sponsored by SWORD Security, ended their Interprovincial campaign with an 8-3 victory over Ulster at Donnybrook on Saturday…
The home side went straight to work to force a penalty, knocked over by scrum-half Tim Schmidt before Ulster’s Jack Milligan was right and short with his in the seventh minute.
Milligan passed up two other long range prospects for field position. They camped in the Leinster half for a solid twenty minutes without any reward on the scoreboard as Conor Oliver led the defensive line.
When Leinster did break out through the quick feet of fly-half Mark Sutton, they carried real threat, creating an overlap to the left that was spoiled by a poor pass keeping it 3-0 at the interval.
Ulster were almost back on terms from full-back Rory Campbell’s penalty from distance, pulling his shot just left of the uprights. It wasn’t long before Campbell was back to level it up in the 40th minute.
The Northerners were starting to turn the screw. They were just held up over the line from a maul and prop Jeremy Loughman’s monster tackle shook the ball free from Ulster tight-head John Dunne.
It was becoming a constant rearguard action. Campbell pushed another penalty left. Leinster finally broke free from Joey Carbery’s excellent angled kick. It was a rare opportunity to apply pressure.
Ulster replacement fly-half Connor Shields lashed a late drop goal inches to the left of the upright. But, lock Nigel Simpson was binned for pulling down a maul.
Leinster turned down a shot at the posts to their benefit when replacement centre Andy Marks beat away two tackles for the winner in injury-time try.
LEINSTER:
15: Robert Vallejo (New Ross RFC) / Cian O’Donoghue (Clongowes Wood College SJ) 54 mins
14: Adam Leavy (St. Michael’s College)
13: Cormac Brennan (C.C. Roscrea)
12: Michael Courtney (CBC Monkstown) / Andy Marks (Gonzaga College) 51 mins
11: Cillian Burke (Clongowes Wood College SJ)
10: Mark Sutton (Newbridge College)
9: Tim Schmidt (Terenure College) / Joey Carbury (Blackrock College) 51 mins.
1: Jeremy Loughman (Blackrock College)
2: Liam Walshe (Wicklow RFC) / Andy Roche (Terenure College) ht.
3: Mtinga Mpiko (The King’s Hospital) / Eric O’Sullivan (Templeogue College) 57 mins
4: Jack Dwan (Blackrock College)
5: Collie Joyce-Ahearne (Wexford Wanderers RFC)
6: Alex Penny (St. Michael’s College) / Nick Timoney (Blackrock College) ht
7: Patrick Thornton (Terenure College) CAPTAIN
8: Conor Oliver (Skerries RFC)
ULSTER:
15 Rory Campbell (RBAI)
14 Rudolph Benade (Malone RFC)
13. Jordan Garford (Belfast HS)
12. Rory Bell (RBAI) / James Beattie (Ballyclare HS) 25 mins.
11. Michael Cartmill (Sullivan Upper)
10. Jack Milligan (RS Dungannon) / Connor Shields (Coleraine AI) 24 mins – temp & 65 mins
9. Josh Fullerton (Belfast Harlequins RFC) / Peter Kidd (Queen’s University RFC) 54 mins
1. Ross McAllister (Methody) / Andrew McGrath (RBAI) 42 mins
2. Stephen Weir (Methody)
3. John Dunne (RS Armagh)
4. Nigel Simpson (Queen’s University RFC)
5. Alex Thompson (Methody)
6. Ross Todd (captain, Sullivan Upper)
7. Dave Cave (Sullivan Upper) / Daniel Dass (Belfast Harlequins RFC) 42 mins
8. James Gallagher (Ballymena RFC)
Referee: K Imbusch (IRFU)
