URC: Ulster claim famous win at Leinster as Dragons win puts Sharks bottom

A brace of tries from Nick Timoney and one from Jacob Stockdale helped them seal a narrow win on the road, with John Cooney slotting two conversions and a penalty goal.

Leinster's tries came from Cian Healy, Rob Russell and Dan Sheehan while young Sam Prendergast and Harry Byrne added extras from the tee as they suffered a rare defeat.

Taking a leaf out of Sale's book, Billy Burns deftly kicked in behind the rush defence early on. Timoney gathered the ball, beat Russell's attempted tackle and slid over despite Ciaran Frawley's challenge.

Following Cooney's conversion, Timoney and Stuart McCloskey were soon flooding forward again in atrociously wet conditions. Leinster's defence was exposed by another Burns kick, giving Stockdale a comfortable run-in on the left.

Trailing 12-0 early on, the Leinster forwards seized control and Healy crashed over for his 31st try in 270 provincial appearances, which Prendergast converted.

The table-toppers edged ahead after Prendergast and Tommy O'Brien had put Russell over in the 23rd minute.

Prendergast had reacted quickest to a kick from Jamison Gibson-Park that bounced back off the crossbar, and the 20-year-old fly-half also converted with aplomb.

However, five minutes before the interval, Luke Marshall and Tom O'Toole both carried well before Burns' cross-field kick went over Prendergast's head and bounced up for Timoney to double his tally.

Cooney curled over a classy conversion and he opened the second half's scoring with a 55th-minute penalty.

Nonetheless, with Ulster's line-out letting them down, Leinster closed the gap to just 22-21 with a timely try from Sheehan.

Joe McCarthy's charge-down on Cooney had lifted the hosts beforehand and the newly-introduced Byrne nailed the difficult conversion.

Victorious at the Ballsbridge venue in 2013 and 2021, the Ulstermen knuckled down in defence with Marshall crucially intercepting a Gibson-Park pass.

Replacement Nathan Doak's inch-perfect kick also forced Frawley to concede a line-out near the Leinster line.

Last beaten at the RDS by the Bulls in June 2022, Leinster won a last-gasp scrum penalty, but Byrne overcooked his long-range kick to touch, leaving Ulster to celebrate a famous win.

Dragons edge Scarlets to climb off bottom

Elsewhere, the Dragons picked up a crucial 13-12 victory over Scarlets that moved them off the bottom of the URC table - and left the Sharks in their place.

Scarlets fly-half Sam Costelow missed two late kicks at goal to allow Dragons to claim a much-needed triumph.

READ MORE: The winners and losers in the year-end World Rugby rankings