It's a knockout: Ulster's play-off pain at Leinster hands

Ulster are more than capable of beating Leinster.

League victories over the eight-time URC champions have arrived with relative regularity over the last number of seasons and, in fact, Ulster have won four of the last seven clashes.

When John Cooney floated over his late winner three weeks ago to complete a 23-21 comeback, it was the second time in three seasons that Ulster had done the double.

No, Ulster’s issue has been getting the job done when it's win or go home.

You have to go all the way back to the almost-forgotten Celtic Cup in 2003 to find the last time Ulster knocked Leinster out of a competition.

Even then, the sides finished level at Ravenhill, 23-23 aet (below), but Ulster scored three tries (penalty try, Neil Best and Tyrone Howe) to Leinster’s two and went through on the countback.

That was the only time in nine knockout meetings that Leinster came off second best, including three Champions Cup ties.

Ulster’s trail of play-off pain started with a limp 18-3 loss to Leinster in a Magners League semi-final in 2011.

The sides met in a Heineken Cup final the following year in Twickenham and a brilliant Leinster team ran out 42-14 winners but Ulster underperformed on the day.

In the 2012/13 season, Ulster under then-head coach Mark Anscombe won both league games but fell short in an RDS final, going down 24-18.

They picked up three just regular-season wins over the next 13 games in a period in which Leinster won the title three times, but lost successive Pro12 semi-finals in 2014 and 2016.

When the sides clashed in the quarter-final of the European Cup in 2019, Ulster fancied their chances and arrived to the Aviva Stadium wearing the same red that they wore when they beat Colomiers in the 1999 final at Lansdowne Road.

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