Ulster- 30
Leinster- 6
Two yellow cards didn't help Leinster's cause as they slumped to defeat against a resurgent Ulster side at the Kingspan Stadium.
Rob Kearney was the recipient of the first yellow mid-way through the first half as he took Ruan Pienaar out late after the South African scrum-half chipped ahead in a race for a try.
Referee George Clancy decided that Kearney deserved 10 minutes in the bin and awarded the home side a penalty try despite there seemingly being cover behind the final defender.
<iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/r0yj" width="640" height="344" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen scrolling="no"></iframe>
Jackson tapped over the conversion to add to his earlier penalty which opened the scoring.
Leinster began to motor towards the tail end of the half and two Johnny Sexton penalties left four in it at the break.
Leo Cullen's side pushed hard for in the second half but found themselves falling further behind when Luke Fitzgerald was binned for an illegal drag back on Rory Scholes, with Jackson landing his third kick of the day.
Ulster made the extra man count as they went over for their second try when a coordinated backline move caused panic in the Leinster defence and Jared Payne cruised over untouched after Luke Marshall and Jackson dragged in the defenders.
A third penalty from Jackson made sure the bonus point was out of reach as Ulster enhance their top four hopes, but he wasn't finished there.
Joe Schmidt will surely have stood up and took notice of Jackson's performance, as moments after smashing international rival Ian Madigan in the tackle, the Ulster 10 picked an intercept pass to race home from 75m.
There was to be no bonus point however, but it does move Ulster six points clear of fifth place Scarlets, with the Welsh side in action this evening.
Ulster's Luke Marshall and Stuart McCloskey with Garry Ringrose of Leinster
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Referee George Clancy shows a yellow card to Leinster's Rob Kearney
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Ulster's Rory Best with Rhys Ruddock of Leinster
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Ulster's Ruan Pienaar, Paddy Jackson and Stuart McCloskey with Johnny Sexton and Ben T'eo of Leinster
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Leinster's Johnny Sexton kicks a penalty
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Ulster's Rory Scholes and Luke Marshall with Johnny Sexton of Leinster
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Ulster's Stuart McCloskey with Richardt Strauss and Rhys Ruddock of Leinster
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
