Silvester on song as Blues survive late Ulster rally

Ulster 'A' 28 Leinster 'A' 43

Ulster A's Caleb Montgomery and Leinster A's Ross Molony rise for the ball. Photo: Sportsfile

September 08 2018 02:30 AM

Down 28-7 at the interval, Ulster 'A' rallied after the restart, but Leinster 'A' still ran out easy winners of this Celtic Cup game at Malone.

Ulster took the lead after 15 minutes when James Hume charged over from 10 metres out but the Leinster pack then took over and, with four tries, the visitors had earned the bonus point by half-time.

Ulster A's Johnny McPhillips tackles Leinster A's Hugo Keenan. Photo: Sportsfile

Leinster made it 33-7 with a fine Michael Silvester try but after 67 minutes Ulster had brought it back to 36-28 and were hoping for at least two bonus points, if not victory.

However, Leinster had other ideas and added a Dan Sheehan try in the 76th minute to put the issue beyond doubt.

Ulster's consolation was a losing bonus point for their four tries.

Ulster 'A' - P Nelson; A Sexton, J Owens, J Hume, I Hughes, J McPhilips, J Stewart; S Van der Merwe, P Cromie, R Ah You; P Browne, A Thompson; C Montgomery, C Henry (capt), G Jones. Reps: P McGookin, M Rea, P Cooper, M Rea, B Houston, M Crowe, G Curtis, M Stronge.

Leinster A's Ed Byrne is challenged by Ulster A's Iwan Hughes. Photo: Sportsfile

Leinster 'A' - H Keenan; M Silvester, C O'Brien, T Daly (capt), J Kelly; H Byrne, P Patterson; E Byrne, R Kelleher, V Abdaladze; R Molony, J Dunne; O Dowling, S Penny, C Doris. Reps: D Sheehan, G Coyne, J Aungier, R Foley, R Waters, H O'Sullivan, D Hankshaw, L Turner.

REF - J Neville.