Elwood left frustrated after derby stalemate

IN a derby fixture in which no side forged ahead by more than three points, a 15-15 draw appeared a satisfactory result.

Despite the perfect conditions and a crowd of nearly 4,000 at the Galway Sportsground on a Saturday night, this was no open-running spectacle.

Level 6-6 at half time, it was left to the kickers to decide this battle. Connacht’s Ian Keatley struck five from six; Ulster’s Paddy Wallace kicked four from five; and Ulster’s replacement kicker Niall O’Connor added one from two efforts. And with visitors attacking two minutes from full time, O’Connor also had the opportunity to sneak the win, but his drop goal effort was well wide.

Ulster’s Brian McLaughlin was the happier of the two coaches. Although his side had lost their winning sequence, they remain unbeaten, four points off leaders Munster, and have taken two points away from home.

Connacht boss Eric Elwood was more frustrated his side did not play to their potential in front of their home fans.

“We are disappointed with the way we played in attack,” said Elwood.

“I think we fronted up in certain aspects, but in attack, you have to dominate and we never got any continuity and coughed up ball too cheaply.”

Connacht did try to open up play more often than their counterparts, but hopes that scoring ace Fionn Carr could grab a game-winning try also failed. His first foray up the left wing resulted in Ulster’s Paul Emerick being yellow-carded for a clumsy shoulder charge, when Carr was chasing up his own kick.

Andrew Trimble also saw yellow in the second half after a reckless tackle on Mike McComish, while Connacht’s Ray Ofisa was binned when referee Alain Rolland deemed the flanker had tripped Trimble.

While Elwood was disappointed with his side’s failure to protect possession, McLaughlin was unimpressed with Ulster’s kicking game.

Scrum-half Paul Marshall was guilty of three successive kicks directly into touch, while Ulster continued to launch futile missiles to Connacht fullback Gavin Duffy.

“We kicked poorly,” admitted McLaughlin. “We put the ball down Gavin’s throat quite a bit, and he had a smashing game. Our kicking accuracy was very poor. But to be fair Connacht put us under ferocious pressure. In such a physical game, people are going to get bumps and bangs and that’s why we have tried hard to increase our squad.”

Connacht, already down to the bones, do not have that luxury particularly as they head to Wales for Thursday evening’s fixture against Cardiff.

“We have a five-day turnaround before Cardiff,” says Elwood. “It’s a huge ask for us. We have no training Monday, one session Tuesday, travel Wednesday, play Thursday, and we have to stay in Swansea and the game is in Cardiff on the same day as the Ryder Cup opens. We try not to make excuses, but it’s crazy.”

CONNACHT: G Duffy, T Nathan, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr, I Keatley, F Murphy (capt); B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan, M Swift, B Upton, M McCarthy, R Ofisa, M McComish. Replacements: A Browne for Upton (50), R Loughney for Wilkinson (51), C Willis for Murphy (62), M Nikora for Duffy (72).

ULSTER: J Smith, P Emerick, D Cave, I Whitten, A Trimble, P Wallace, P Marshall; B Young, R Best (capt), T Court, T Barker, R Caldwell, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg.

Replacements: W Faloon for Ferris (11, inj), BJ Botha for Young (h/t), D Tuohy for Barker (55), N O’Connor for Whitten (55), D McIllwaine for Emerick (65), A Kyriacou for Best (71), Best for Kyriacou (77), P McAllister for Botha (77).

Referee: A Rolland (IRFU).