A solid display from Ulster, which included tries in each half from Stuart McCloskey and Clive Ross, saw Les Kiss’ men run out 16-point winners over an injury-stricken Connacht side at Kingspan Stadium tonight.
The unerring Paddy Jackson added 13 points with the boot as Ulster moved temporarily into fourth place in the GUINNESS PRO12 ahead of their New Year’s Eve trip to the RDS.
Both Ulster and Connacht were coming off the back of bruising encounters in Europe and the wet and blustery conditions in Belfast made for a dour opening half, with plenty of handling errors. The westerners, whose injury list stretched to 21 players earlier this week, were first to play into the elements.
The first quarter offered little in the way of festive cheer for the 17,613-strong crowd. A slow start under swirling rain kept play contained in the middle of the pitch with turnovers and handling errors very much the order of the day in a scoreless first 20 minutes.
Ulster had fallen foul of referee George Clancy’s whistle, leaking four penalties over the initial quarter of an hour, but out-half Jackson managed to open their account with a penalty from just shy of the Connacht.
Poor handling from Rodney Ah You gifted a scrum to his former province at the other end which, tellingly, Connacht surrendered with another knock-on.
The visitors’ brightest play came from Ireland scrum half Kieran Marmion who sniped and probed for space around the fringes. Man-of-the-match Iain Henderson led the way for the men in white, picking off a couple of fine lineout steals and making good yardages with his carries in the loose.
The breakthrough for Ulster came on 26 minutes, Charles Piutau the architect with a sprint down the right wing before Ruan Pienaar’s quick pass gave big centre Stuart McCloskey all the space he needed to ground the by the corner flag.
Jackson’s conversion was soon followed by a second penalty for 13-0 as Connacht failed to roll away in the tackle, but yet another fumble – Roger Wilson this time the culprit – presented Pat Lam’s side with an advanced scrum position which again they contrived to squander, this time through crossing from Quinn Roux as Marmion sought to break for the try-line.
The visitors’ already-stretched resources took another hit during the first 40 minutes as prop Finlay Bealham was forced off after taking a heavy blow in contact, and Danie Poolman, who partnered Rory Parata for the first time in the centre, also had to be replaced. He injured himself when trying to bring down the advancing Louis Ludik.
Poolman’s withdrawal brought 21-year-old debutant Ciaran Gaffney into a rejigged Connacht back-line, while Sean Reidy replaced Wilson in the Ulster back row for the start of the second period.
Ulster continued to make the majority of the running and were unlucky not to reap the benefits of a fine diagonal foray through the Connacht 22 from Jacob Stockdale. Then a weaving run from Piutau and a delicate grubber from Pienaar just eluded Luke Marshall as the centre hared down on the ball, and the scrum half fell just inches short as he dived for the line off the back of a maul moments later.
The wait ended on 52 minutes when flanker Clive Ross picked up a metre from home and evaded both a trio of tacklers and the right hand post to register his first ever try in Ulster colours, Jackson again adding the extras for 20-0.
Connacht did well to claw back those seven points just three minutes later. John Muldoon played the captain’s role with an inspiring turnover which kickstarted a purposeful attack which replacement Ultan Dillane added his weight to and the fleet-footed Matt Healy showed his impressive pace. Out-half Jack Carty supplied the finishing touches by ghosting over from close range and converting to cut the margin to 13 points.
However, a further Jackson penalty, awarded at a scrum in front of the westerners’ posts, meant Ulster had the match points well within their grasp with just 12 minutes remaining. Handling errors continued to blight Connacht’s play and Ulster’s own efforts at adding to their try haul – and netting a possible late bonus point – proved in vain.
After a protracted pause for treatment to Niyi Adeolokun (the recipient of a hard but fair tackle from Stockdale), replacement scrum half Paul Marshall came close to scoring with a quick-thinking kick and chase, but Connacht held out and ended the interprovincial derby with 14 players as Dillane went off injured..
This website uses cookies.
Read More