Leinster 10-20 Ulster: McFarland praises Ulster's resilience in standing firm to win at RDS

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland has praised his Ulster side for how they responded in the final quarter of the game to get over the line against Leinster in Dublin.

Having led by 10, the visitors were pegged back to 10-10 with 15 minutes remaining but a Nathan Doak penalty and James Hume's late try secured a memorable win at the RDS.

"In times gone by the game is starting to drift away from us in that third quarter as Leinster have got on top," said McFarland.

"But in this game it didn't."

Previously Ulster had beaten Leinster only once, eight-and-a-half years ago, at the Dublin venue since the turn of the century while more recent form also favourite the eastern province, who had won the last six meetings between the sides.

Ulster were good value for their 10-point lead after 50 minutes having dominated territory and possession in the first half, but the game appeared in danger of slipping away as a converted Robbie Henshaw try and a Ross Byrne penalty saw the visitors' lead evaporate.

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"That third quarter, wow, that's always tough here," McFarland reflected.

"We had a couple of things that we needed to sort out at half-time and to be fair the things we talked about sorting out, we did, around our defensive stuff, not dipping into rucks and trying to fill the field.

"We made errors at the start of that second half and it was only through a couple of jackals and big defensive plays that we got ourselves out of trouble.

"We were gritty, we were tough, we fought back and found the mental resilience when they scored that try to be able to fight back from 10 all."

Connacht defeat helped provide Ulster spark

The match was played a month after Ulster's last outing, when they were comprehensively outplayed in all departments by Connacht in their first defeat of the season.

Having lost so emphatically, many were waiting to see how Ulster would return from the hiatus having had four weeks to stew on their worst performance of the campaign.

"Four weeks is a long time to be sitting and thinking that you didn't earn the respect that you needed," McFarland said.

"There was definitely an element of that adding a spark, a catalyst or motivation. Only one spark among many. Playing Leinster in Dublin is the ultimate test in our league.

"If you can't save the fire for that then what can you save the fire for?"

Ulster face Ospreys in Swansea next week before their European Champions Cup campaign begins with a difficult assignment away to Clermont Auvergne.