Impressive Ulster in seventh heaven

ULSTER smoothly moved into the Magners League mid-table after a seven-try blitz against Connacht at Ravenhill last night.

Leading 20-10 at the break, Simon Danielli scored twice and Stephen Ferris, Timoci Nagusa, Mark McCrea Darren Cave and Bryn Cunningham all touched down.

Connacht only briefly worried the Ulster rearguard with Fionn Carr scoring their only try. The sight of international Paddy Wallace being stretchered off before a minute had passed after being knocked unconscious was not the start Ulster wanted. Wallace, however, did make a quick enough recovery and his absence did not stop Ulster from forcing the game in the early stages.

Wallace’s replacement Paul Steinmetz triggered one decent three-quarter movement which was stopped by an errant Connacht hand. Another promising cut in midfield brought its reward when Cave was up-ended before he received the ball and Ian Humphreys duly converted the penalty in the eighth minute.

Four minutes later Ulster extended the lead thanks to some great hounding by flanker David Pollock who forced the Connacht defence into panic and Ferris was on hand to sprint his way in at the posts for Humphreys to add the extras.

Ian Keatley kicked a penalty for Connacht who were struggling to get a hold on the game, and they fell further behind to a rampaging Ulster in the 19th minute following a towering Garryowen by Humphreys.

Keatley fumbled and was then turned over by Cave in his 22 and winger Nagusa took a pass on the burst to zip through a gaping hole to dive in at the corner, with Humphreys landing the touchline conversion.

Connacht finally got a grip on their game when they counter-attacked with Carr sweeping in on the left, with Keatley landing the conversion from wide out.

Ulster ended the half 20-10 to the good after Humphreys rifled over 45-metre penalty on the whistle.

Connacht drew first blood on the restart with a second Keatley penalty. However, their initial spirit was dampened in the 53rd minute with a third Ulster try when Humphreys drew the defence wide before flicking inside to replacement Danielli to sprint in at the posts.

Three minutes later it was virtually all over for Connacht when a rare strike against the head at scrum enabled Ulster to spin the ball wide left and winger McCrea crashed over for the bonus try with Humphreys once again adding the extras.

Danielli grabbed his second and again Humphreys proved lethal before Cave swooped for try number six and Cunningham scored try number seven to wrap up a good night for the hosts.

Ulster Scorers: Tries: Ferris, Nagusa, Danielli 2, McCrea, Cave, Cunningham. Cons: Humphreys 6. Pens: Humphreys 2.

Connacht scorers: Tries: Carr. Cons: Keatley. Pens: Keatley 2.

ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Nagusa, D Cave, P Wallace, M McCrea; I Humphreys, C Willis; J Fitzpatrick, R Best, capt, B Botha, E O’Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, D Pollock, R Diack.

Replacements: N Brady for Best (67), T Court for Fitzpatrick (57), M McCullough for Ferris (64), K Dawson for Pollock (64), I Boss for Willis (67), P Steinmetz for Wallace (1), S Danielli for Nagusa (37), Fitzpatrick for Botha (71).

CONNACHT: G Duffy, capt; F Carr, M Deane, K Matthews, T Nathan; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, R Morris, M McCarthy, A Farley, R Ofisa, J O’Connor, C Rigney.

Replacements: R Loughney for Morris (39), A Browne for Rigney (49), T Donnelly for Keatley (56), J Hearty Deane (78).

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU).