Dan McFarland, Ulster coach, says that his mistakes allowed 14-man Leinster from being down 22-3 to win 38-29 at RDS Arena.
Ulster was defeated by Leinster for the second time in the season. They also maintained their 100% record at the URC.
McFarland said that McFarland made “a few mistakes in midfield which allowed Leinster on the front foot.”
“We need to examine the mistakes that we made in the 3rd quarter and rectify them.”
Cian Healy, Leinster prop was sent-off after 21 minutes. Ulster then took control with three tries. Ronan Kelleher took over for Ulster just after the break. The hosts continued to dominate the second period.
After Nick Timoney’s yellow card and James Hume’s yellow card, Ulster was temporarily reduced to 13 men by the leaders.
Ulster was unable to defeat Leinster in Dublin and will now focus their attention on Europe, with next weekend’s Champions Cup opener versus Sale.
McFarland stated, “There is a lot of momentum in Leinster going to half-time with the try. The mistakes allowed them to field position and get back into it.”
“Obviously, the two yellow cards were expensive. My perspective was that the lads were very generous and worked hard. However, we can do better.
“To get three tries before they went down to 14, we put some nice play into, forced a transition attempt and a few good tries in our 22 with our power-play – we’ll take much from that.
“Nobody comes here for mistakes, and when you play Leinster it can be very difficult to play.
“There is no time to be sorry – we will get back to it on Monday, have a review, then look at the Sale preview and then get down to business.