STAYING GROUNDED

Post-match at the Kingspan Stadium was an interesting event.

After Leo Cullen had ironically brandished Ruan Pienaar a “cheat” for milking his injury for Ulster’s penalty try (I’d like to see him get up immediately after clashing heads with Rob Kearney), there was a distinct and recurring theme to Ulster’s responses to the media after the game.

One by one Les Kiss, Stuart McCloskey and Chris Henry all stated the same thing – “we haven’t won anything yet”. A particularly astute line to take, especially in the euphoria of such a brilliant win, a reflection upon how grounded this Ulster side is.

It goes without saying that what they say is true. Ulster’s 30-6 win over Leinster, impressive as it was, was just another step along the path leading towards the semi-finals of the Guinness PRO12. The manner of the win pales into insignificance should they find themselves unable to get the result they require this weekend in Swansea.

And that raises another question: what is the result that Ulster require in Swansea?

At the conclusion of the Scarlets’ bonus point win over the Dragons, the calculators immediately snapped into action. Ulster’s destiny is still in their own hands – four tries at the Liberty Stadium will see them into the final four without a doubt, but if the game ends in any other result then they’ll be keeping a close eye upon events in Limerick.

Les Kiss will be hoping that Munster will do his side a favour and that his side will do them a favour in return. Munster, still not qualified for Europe just yet, could really do with the Ospreys losing on Saturday while Ulster will be desperate for the Scarlets to be denied any points at Thomond Park so that they don’t need a result in Swansea. It would be a win-win for both teams involved.

Of course, it’s never that easy. The Welsh sides will be more than up for the two games for their respective reasons which makes this weekend’s games tantalisingly exciting. Eight months of rugby comes down to two games which will decide who is in and who is out and it’ll be the side that blinks first who will be the ones left ruing their missed opportunities.

Off the back of Saturday’s win Ulster will be very confident they’ll be in the play-offs.

Defensively sound and potent in attack, Ulster took that game by the scruff of the neck in the second half and they turned the screw to ruthlessly pull Leinster apart. Jackson’s try towards the end perhaps put a bit of gloss on the result that seemed a trifle unfair upon the visitors, but that takes nothing away from how good the Ulstermen were against their undoubted bogey team.

The pack had been brutally torn apart by Stephen Ferris in the build up to the game and, on paper, it wasn’t unreasonable to think that Leinster would have the upper hand in the close encounters. But the Ulster eight matched their counterparts step by step up front and that paved the way for the hosts’ superior back line to carve their way through the flailing blue defence, marshalled by a certain young star.

Paddy Jackson was masterful against his two Irish rivals and pulled the strings from fly-half, continually asking questions of the Leinster defence and moving play about effortlessly. His ability to draw in three defenders to create the space for Jared Payne to score was, quite simply, world class and his try was just reward for a special performance in front of Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, a performance in which he outshone both Johnny Sexton and Ian Madigan, his rivals for the Ireland jersey.

But Ulster cannot get carried away.

Their game against the Ospreys on Saturday is just as important as last Saturday’s was in terms of the result, although this time they probably won’t be able to rely on their opponents’ ill-discipline as much as they did last weekend. Leinster’s cynical play wasn’t the main reason why Ulster won, far from it, but it did help them considerably and you would imagine the Ospreys won’t be so foolish in their decision making with so much on the line.

Ulster played very well against Leinster and Les Kiss should be very proud of what they achieved, but what he was saying after the game speaks volumes about how level-headed the Aussie coach is. He knows that the job is nowhere near done yet and that if he wants to take his team to where they want to be he needs to get them to conquer one of their biggest foes of the season three more times.

Their away record.