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6th March 2021
09:29pm GMT

"Blue 13 leads with the head... 10 jumps at the last moment... while 13 is responsible, I'm looking at a yellow card because of mitigation."O'Brien joined Toner in the sin-bin but Leinster kept the score at 12-3 until the big lock returned. When he did, they scored through Michael Bent after pounding away at the Ulster tryline. Josh van der Flier then got over after a series of tap-and-go penalties in close. Then came the turning point of the contest. Loosehead Andrew Warwick, who was on for Eric O'Sullivan raised his left arm to fend off Ed Byrne but connected with the throat of the Leinster prop.
Murphy initially looked to be favouring a yellow card, but Hodges (his TMO) pressed the case for further review. Murphy eventually said, "I take your point" and it was a red card for Warwick.
Adding salt to the Ulster wounds, Ed Byrne crashed over after Jacob Stockdale had prevented a Leinster try with a great tackle on O'Brien. It was turning into that sort of night for Dan McFarland's men.
Baloucoune looked to have got his side back in the match, on 48 minutes, but his wonderful line and clean break for a try was then chalked off. The call - somewhat harshly - was against Stuart McCloskey for crossing, but Rhys Ruddock looked to have bought his line and had not been fully obstructed.
To make matters (even) worse, Ruddock was the man to heave over under the Ulster posts to secure Leinster's try-scoring bonus point. Ulster were all but beaten, at this stage, and it was all about how much they heart and fight they had.
The answer was delivered by Nick Timoney after a 10-minute siege inside their 22. It was too late to swing the contest but it was heartening to see.
For Ulster, they will soon turn their focus to the Challenge Cup in the hopes of finishing a promising season with some silverware. For Leinster, another league final awaits.
Leinster's replacement hooker Dan Sheehan got over for a late try while Murphy flashed yet another yellow card before the final whistle sounded.
Our Man of the Match: Robert Baloucoune (Ulster)
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