OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB PRO 14 FINAL GUIDE LEINSTER v ULSTER Saturday 12th September 2020 OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB LEINSTER v ULSTER WHAT A RETURN! Saturday 28th September 2019 was when it all began for us in the 2019/20 Guinness PRO14 Championship and who could’ve imagined how the rest of the scheduled season and fixtures would’ve played out. When referee Ben Whitehouse blew the final whistle that evening in Stadio Monigo, it was GETTING TO DUBLIN AIRPORT Dave Kearney getting the plaudits as his hat-trick of tries on the evening helped us overcome a tricky 14 man Benetton Rugby side on a score-line of 32 – 27. The juggernaut continued for us right through to Friday 28th Feb of this year and with our 13th victory of the campaign that evening, after discarding Glasgow 55-19 (another hat-trick there for Dave), it was time to switch focus for some players to Ireland duty while others would hold the fort so to speak at the top of the table for Leinster. We don’t need to go into detail of what happened next as we are all aware of the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on society right around the world, but after a layoff of 174 or so days, PRO14 rugby was back, in ironically August again, and we were all giddy with excitement! In the 3 weeks we have been back, we have defeated Munster twice as well as our opponents for this evening (Ulster) once. That victory was secured on a score-line of 28-10 and Ulster suffered a serious case of Byrne fever on the night, with just the other 5pts coming from a player not a Byrne – Scott Penny. Last weekend saw us face off against Munster for the second time in quick succession in the PRO14 Semi-Final, where thanks to a score-line of 13-3 we secured our place in this weekend’s final. The line-up was complete after Ulster overcame Edinburgh 22-19 the next evening. In that game in Murrayfield, the visitors were 12pts down going into the final quarter but 2 tries and 1 conversion in the space of 14mins brought them back to all square with 5mins to play. Right then on the stroke of the final whistle however, up stepped our own former out-half Ian Madigan who coolly nailed a penalty to seal their place in the final (22-19 the final result). #Lineout4Leinster OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB LEINSTER v ULSTER AND SO IT COMES DOWN TO THIS …. The resumption of the 2019/20 Guinness PRO14 has seen us secure the final 2 victories in the group stages as well as the semi-final to return an impressive 16/16. Ulster tasted victory in both their return games before overcoming Edinburgh so they’re currently 9/15 to date for the season. We know the result of the most recent game between us, as well the one before that which was back in December 2019 where in the RDS on that Friday evening (20th), the sides trashed out a mammoth back and forth tussle where after 14 tries (8 vs 6) and 96pts in total, Leinster took the victory 54-42. (The total of 14 tries equals the PRO14 record for tries scored in a single match (Edinburgh v Caerphilly September 2002 (66-32)), while 96pts is the Championships second biggest ever total & Ulster’s score of 42 is a PRO14 record for a losing team) Leinster are Celtic League/ Magners League / RaboDirect Pro12/ Guinness Pro12 / Guinness PRO14 Champions 6 times and Runners-up 5 times, whilst Ulster have been Champions once, and runners-up twice. We secured the title last year, as well as the year before in what was an historic double for us as we also secured our 4th European Star. The focus though for this game is on Ulster and not on the pending game next week against Saracens where we will look to continue in our quest for more European glory. No doubt given what we have achieved in the past with those 2 titles, as well as our current run of form during the current season, the focus will be on securing our 3rd domestic title in a row. Ulster though are resilient and this can be seen as despite 2 losses from 2 in the last two fixtures of the group stages of this campaign, they went into the semi-final and overcame a 12pt deficit in the last quarter to secure victory by 3pts. The game stats for both sides further on will show just how close these sides rank in some categories so no doubt another too and fro battle will be on the cards for this weekend. #Lineout4Leinster OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB LEINSTER v ULSTER WHAT CAN FANS DO As we have seen, it’s tough not being there in person to support the team however we must continue to make ourselves seen and heard and the best way to do this at the moment is through the power of social media. The Official Leinster Supporters Club (OLSC) are asking fans to again send us your photographs wearing your blue and we’ll post them to our social media channels. We know the majority of the squad are followers of our pages and we have already seen how many of them have reacted in kind to the photos so we know what a lift they’re already getting from seeing all the fans behind them. With the competition now at its climax, let’s go all out and get more and more photos posted for the team to see. CLICK HERE TO SEND US YOUR PHOTO Our email address is [email protected] Leinster Rugby’s Innovation Partner, BearingPoint are asking fans to #Lineout4Leinster for this fixture so where possible, let’s get our voices heard on social media there too. OLSC ONLINE SHOP The Official Leinster Supporters Club (OLSC) are delighted to announce that we have now launched our online shop. Previously orders were taken via email however with the launch of our online shop (through myshopify) you can browse the range of items available and make purchases easily via electronic payment. To see the range of items available, The shop can be accessed via our please see our updated listing here Facebook page simply by clicking the ‘Shop Now’ button VIEW RANGE SHOP NOW OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB LEINSTER v ULSTER A THANK YOU TO FERGUS As a thank you for his 13yrs of fantastic service to Leinster Rugby, the OLSC were delighted to be given the opportunity to present a small token of our & indeed all the fans appreciation to Fergus McFadden. Due to current guidelines surrounding social distancing, Marcus Ó’Buachalla, Senior Communications & Media Manager made the presentation on our behalf. Hear what Fergus had to say in the short video which is over on all of our social media platforms. Thanks for the memories Fergus & hopefully we’ll see you in blue once more before the current season is up! FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL Facebook: Official Leinster Supporters Club Instagram: OLSC Rugby Twitter: @OLSCRugby #Lineout4Leinster OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB LEINSTER v ULSTER LEINSTER V ULSTER (A HISTORY) While Leinster v Munster is one of the biggest provincial rivalries in the world, Leinster v Ulster actually pre- dates the above with the first game taking place in 1875 (a full 4yrs before Lei v Mun). Since the beginning of the Interprovincial Championship in 1946, these two sides have faced off 100 times with Leinster securing 60 victories to Ulster’s 34 and 6 draws. The game back in December in the RDS was, as we mentioned the second highest scoring game ever in this competition, but both sides are no strangers to securing big league wins over each other; LEINSTER ULSTER DIFf DATE 40 7 33 05/01/2019 38 7 31 2017/18 39 9 30 1980/81 6 30 24 2015/16 6 28 22 2003/04 14 34 10 1998/99 The sides have also met in the Heineken Cup and the most memorable occasion was the 2011/12 Final in Twickenham London. On that day, Saturday 19th May 2012, in front of a crowd of a mere 81,774, we secured our second European star on a score-line of 42-14. #Lineout4Leinster OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB LEINSTER v ULSTER GAME STATS LEINSTER (AVE. PER GAME) ULSTER 34 POINTS 27 5 TRIES 4 14 POINTS CONC. 20 9 CLEAN BREAKS 10 5 OFfLOADS 7 88% TACKLE SUCcESs 89% 96% SCRUM SUCcESs 96% 87% LINEOUT SUCcESs 86% 4 TURNOVER WON 5 11 TURNOVERS LOST 12 #Lineout4Leinster OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB LEINSTER v ULSTER ATTACK LEINSTER (AVE. PER GAME) ULSTER Ross Byrne (83) LEADING POINTS SCORER John Cooney (105) Dave Kearney (9) LEADING TRY SCORER Matt Faddes (6) Max Deegan (59) SUCcESsFUL CARrIES Marcell Coetzee (63) James Lowe (13) CLEAN BREAKS Rob Lyttle (15) Hugo Keenan (31) DEFENDERS BEATEN Craig Gilroy (26) James Lowe (611) METRES GAINED Matt Faddes (433) James Lowe (12) OFfLOADS Marcell Coetzee (9) DEFENSE LEINSTER (AVE. PER GAME) ULSTER Will Connors (191) NUMBER OF TACKLES Sean Reidy (167) Robbie Henshaw (100) TACKLE SUCcESs (%) Jack Regan (100) Caelan Doris (7) TURNOVERS WON Marcell Coetzee (12) #Lineout4Leinster OFFICIAL LEINSTER SUPPORTERS CLUB LEINSTER v ULSTER GLOBAL BROADCAST INFORMATION The Aviva Stadium in Dublin is the venue for the 2019/20 Guinness PRO14 final. This calendar year has been some journey to date however we’re delighted to be back in another final and what is sure to be another cracking game of rugby (Saturday, KO 7.35pm) The Official Leinster Supporters Club (OLSC) has compiled the following broadcast information for those of you unable to make the game; Ireland: LIVE on eir Sport 1 from 6.30pm and TG4 from 7.05pm UK: LIVE on Premier Sports 1 from 6.30pm Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Canada & Italy: LIVE on DAZN from 7.35pm USA: LIVE or On Demand on ESPN+ New Zealand: Coverage on Sky Sports (please check your local area for coverage time) Asia & Australia: LIVE on Rugby Pass TV (please check your local area for coverage times) RTE Radio 1: LIVE Radio commentary from 7:30pm as part of Saturday Sport Extra Twitter: @leinsterrugby – a Twitter account is not required to view updates Leinster Rugby App: Supporters can follow the game with live score updates, live text commentary and stats in the Leinster Rugby App GET THE LEINSTER RUGBY APP #Lineout4Leinster.