It’s been a year and a week since Leinster blew away Ulster
42-14 in the Heineken Cup final and it’s a mark of the stark improvement that
Mark Anscombe’s side have made in the interim since that they come into this
Pro12 final as not only the home side, but also having a start of just three
points with some bookmakers.
Ulster were double figure underdogs in every sense of the
word last year but set the pace for the first 11 games of the league season
until fatigue started to catch up with a young side that for all their talents
were still reliant upon an older spine of players including influential
scrum/flyhalf Ruan Pienaar, Johann Muller, Tommy Bowe, Jared Payne and Paddy
Wallace.
However the large advantage they had built at the top of the
leaderboard proved invaluable as the end of the season came and with most of
their players returning towards form, they ended the season strongly enough to
finish top of the table.
Leinster were knocked out of the Heineken Cup early on by
Clermont but had been rocked by injuries and the way they scythed through their
challenge cup opposition suggested that standards haven’t dropped off too much
in the interim. However they were beaten twice by Ulster in the off season, and
both times there can be no doubt about who the better side was on the day, even
if Johnny Sexton and Brian O’Driscoll missed both clashes.
Value is tricky to find in such a well matched contest, so
it might be best to take a chance on this being a free flowing game, with so much
running and kicking talent, and over 42 points is a viable marker.
Advice
1 pt over 42.5 points (5/6 general)
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