Ulster Finish Out Festive Interpros On A High Against Munster
Richie Murphy’s Ulster side made it two wins out of three during the festive campaign, breaking clear of Munster in the second half thanks to tries from Tom Stewart, Jake Flannery, and player-of-the-match Bryn Ward.
Following up on their 29-24 success at Connacht, the Ulstermen won 28-3 in front of a bumper home crowd to leapfrog Munster into third place in the BKT United Rugby Championship table.
Speaking in the aftermath, returning Ulster captain Iain Henderson said: “As I’ve been spouting for the last six months, we’ve seen the progress behind closed doors and it’s great to see it coming out in matches like this.
“The young lads coming through are showing such promise and the quality of our training sessions has just been getting better and better and the way the coaches have been coaching us.
“We are seeing that all transferring onto the pitch now. It’s exciting to see it finally coming out. When times are tough, it is so difficult to drag yourself back and get the feeling good, so we are just thriving in this environment.
“There is a good buzz about the place. It’s a good craic, which is positive. I really hope the Irish coaching staff have a look at these young lads and see how they fit into an exciting Ireland squad going forward.”
Munster head coach Clayton McMillan commented: “There’s no sugar-coating over anything really. We just never got our game going. We were never allowed to get our game going. I’ve got to give credit to where it’s due and that’s to a good Ulster side.
“It just wasn’t good enough. Nowhere near the standard that we want to set. It’s an opportunity for a number of people to put themselves in the jersey in the coming weeks, and really just walk away with more questions than answers.
“Not a great day at the office, but as coaches, we own it first and foremost. We’ve tried a few different things, obviously haven’t struck the right chord just yet. So it starts with us.
“We’ll go away, we’ll reflect on what we can do better. We’ve got a nine-day turnaround now, so we really need to leverage off that to try and find the solutions.”