Ulster and Connacht record big wins

Ulster rounded off their week-long training camp to St Andrews with a 36-7 win over the Borders in a pre-season friendly.

Coach Mark McCall took this opportunity to have a look at some of the new faces in his squad, with the unavailability of his Irish internationals and a number of players recovering from injury, this game proved to be ideal preparation for the season ahead.

A satisfactory conclusion to this week away from base, now it is back to Ravenhill where the Ulster men entertain Andre Bester’s Earth Titans in the first leg of the Grafton Challenge, kick-off at 7.30pm. The second leg will be played on Saturday when the Ulster A side will play their Rotherham counterparts, kick off is at 1.00pm. Both games will give the Ulster Management much needed game time to view ahead of the first match in the defence of the Magners League title which is against Llanelli at Ravenhill on Saturday 2nd September.

For the full story on Ulster’s warm up win click here.

Meanwhile further south the men from Connacht were running in seven tries as part of a comprehensive win over Rotheram.

Team manager Tim Allnutt was delighted with the display. “It was an encouraging display. The boys did exactly what we asked them to.We are very happy with the pre-season, and this was a good display. We counter-attacked well and dominated up front. Overall, its a confidence inspiring performance going into the Magners League,” said Allnutt.

For the full story on Connacht’s win click here

With Leinster recording a loss away to Dax but debuting a number of players and Munster due to open their pre-seaon next weekend all four provinces look to be gearing up nicely for the opening rounds of the Magners League.