Munster pay the price for poor opening quarter as Ulster maintain unbeaten run

First-half tries from Matt Faddes and man of the match Ethan McElroy made the difference for the home side as they made it 10 leagues wins from 10 to improve their advantage at the top of Conference A.

ON THE BURST: Ulster’s David McCann and David O’Connor try to halt the progress of Munster front row Roman Salanoa.

PRO 14: ULSTER 15 MUNSTER 10.

Johann van Graan was left to rue a poor opening quarter in Belfast and missed try-scoring opportunities in the second half as Munster’s nine-game winning start to the season was brought to a halt by still-unbeaten Ulster.

Head coach van Graan is still without a victory at Kingspan Stadium after three years as Munster boss and he picked an inexperienced side for this latest trip north as the Guinness PRO14’s two conference leaders squared up to one another in this interprovincial derby. One of them had to lose their 100 per cent record and Ulster’s bright start made sure it was the telling factor as wings Matt Faddes and Ethan McElroy finished off some excellent build-up play from fly-half Billy Burns, centres Stuart McCloskey and Jack Hume, and full-back Jacob Stockdale for a 12-3 lead inside the first 20 minutes, scrum-half John Cooney adding a penalty to his conversion to send the home side into a 15-3 halftime lead.

Munster overcame the loss of captain Billy Holland to a yellow card on 59 minutes but twice knocked on with the tryline begging and then saw a good driving maul turned over close to the line by strong Ulster defence before a late try from Darren Sweetnam, converted by debutant fly-half and fellow replacement Jack Crowley, rescued a losing bonus point in added time.

“Obviously disappointed with the result,” van Graan said. “We came here to win. We picked a side we believed were good enough to win up here.

“Not as accurate as we wanted to be in the first 20 minutes of the game, that first kick-off and that try they scored, that was actually off our scrum that got free-kicked and they got momentum. I felt the longer the game went the more we grew into it.

“But I was very happy about the reaction at half-time, we stayed in the fight, under huge pressure on our own goal line when we went down to 14 men but I felt that the tide actually turned there. Like I said to the group, the time just caught us there at the end. We were over the goal line a few times with a minute or two to spare and we believed we could sneak a win there right at the end but look, fair play to Ulster, they started the game better than us - but I felt we finished it better than them and a fair result.”

STRONG HAND:  Munster's Fineen Wycherley makes a desperate attempt to block down the kick of Ulster nine John Cooney.

Key Moment: Munster’s hopes of a second-half comeback from 15-3 down at half-time were undone by their own hands as excellent work in contact eked out penalties that the visitors were unable to capitalise on with points. Three times forays into the Ulster 22 came to nothing through knock-ons and the concession of a turnover scrum from a maul when a Munster try would have been a major momentum shift in this tense contest.

Talking Point: Munster’s selection raised eyebrows given the lack of experience in Johann van Graan’s side but despite the lack of accuracy inside Ulster’s 22, the head coach will be delighted with the application shown to eke out a losing bonus point.

Key Man: Former Ireland Under-20 wing Ethan McElroy got the man of the match vote from former Ulster star turned TV pundit Stephen Ferris and he was certainly a candidate with his first-half try but the work inside him in the Ulster backline was the telling difference between the sides with fly-half Billy Burns, and centres Stuart McCloskey and James Hume, all pulling the strings in a dominant first-half at Kingspan Stadium.

Ref Watch: Mike Adamson showed why he will be the first Scottish referee in 19 years to take charge of a men’s Six Nations fixture in February with an assured performance. Always in control of a potentially feisty Irish provincial derby, his messaging was clear, succinct and without fuss. Yellow cards in the second-half, first for Munster’s Billy Holland and then for Ulster replacement Callum Reid were both for their team’s accumulation of penalties in front of the posts.

Penalties conceded: Ulster 13 Munster 8.

Injuries: Jacob Stockdale limped out of the contest in the final five minutes to cause concern for both Ulster and Ireland.

Next up: The final weekend of the midwinter PRO14 interpros comes next with Ulster travelling to Dublin’s RDS on Friday, January 8 to play conference A rivals and defending champions Leinster while the following day Connacht host Munster at the Sportsground in Galway.

ULSTER: J Stockdale (B Moxham, 77); M Faddes (O’Sullivan, 81), J Hume, S McCloskey, E McIlroy; B Burns (I Madigan, 72), J Cooney (N Doak, 66); E O’Sullivan (C Reid, 48), R Herring (A McBurney, 73), M Moore (T O’Toole, 52); K Treadwell, Sam Carter - captain (D O’Connor, 66); M Rea (M Coetzee, 48), D McCann, N Timoney.

Yellow card: Reid 81.

MUNSTER: S Daly (D Sweetnam, 70); C Nash, D Goggin, R Scannell, L Coombes; B Healy (J Crowley, 66), C Casey (N McCarthy, 66); L O’Connor (D Kilcoyne, 52), N Scannell (R Marshall, 52), J Ryan (R Salanoa, 73); F Wycherley (T Ahern, 68), B Holland - captain; J O’Donoghue, C Cloete, J O’Sullivan (T O’Donnell, 57 ).

Yellow card: Holland 59-69.

Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)