Munster fall to first defeat of season in Belfast
COME FROM BEHIND: Munster's Edwin Edogbo and David McCann of Ulster in a line-out
Munster led for 55 minutes of this URC interpro, they surfed a ten-minute period with 14 men unblemished and they came within a whisker of rescuing a draw in time added on, but their unbeaten start to the season is done.
Graham Rowntree’s men actually held an eleven-point advantage after the first quarter of an absorbing game in Belfast and yet Ulster were full value for the win having suffered defeat to their neighbours at this ground in each of the last two seasons.
How close was it in the end? Well, Josh Wycherley powered over the Ulster try line at the death only to be held up by Iain Henderson and a bevvy of the latter’s chums. Think Jordie Barrett and Ronan Kelleher in Paris. Yep, that close.
Disappointment then for the visitors but this was the kind of win that can turbo-charge Ulster’s so-so season with the returning Henderson, Rob Herring and Stuart McCloskey all on duty and integral to the result after the World Cup.
“A really special win for the boys,” said captain Tom Stewart.
Crucial though that Test trio was, we shouldn’t ignore 21-year old Queens tighthead Scott Wilson who had been parachuted into the ranks due to injuries and came on to startling effect here, both in the tight and in open play, on his debut.
The turnaround in Ulster’s fortunes at the scrum mirrored the game as a whole with Craig Casey scrambling over for two tries in the first 14 minutes on the back of some clever tactical kicking from Jack Crowley and some penetrative forward punches with ball in hand.
Sandwiched in between those was a sinbinning for full-back Shane Daly whose last-ditch tackle on Ethan McElroy played a part in his opposite number being left stunned on the turf and in need of attention just shy of the line.
The Ulster full-back was haring for the try line when Daly and Diarmuid Barron intervened. McElroy seemed to be knocked out cold and, while there were ten responders attending to him at one point, the exact nature of the knock was unclear.
In the end, Daly was shown a yellow for a tackle that was made from an upright position but with the mitigation that McElroy, who was eventually able to walk off the field unaided, had been dipping for the line as they met.
Crowley’s covering position prevented the awarding of a penalty try by referee Frank Murphy and Ulster settled for the three instead. The crowd weren’t happy with all that but the official’s decision looked fair.
The second quarter was a tale of couldas and shouldas. Munster’s execution let them down too often in the second 20 and Ulster began to find more purchase in the contest if not their stride as errors mounted up on both sides.
Their opening try was a beaut though with patient probing in and around the Munster ‘22’ ending with an inch-perfect Billy Burns cross-kick that landed invitingly for Jacob Stockdale. Doak missed the conversion but the game was on.
It stayed that way to the break, Munster leading 14-8 on a perfectly still, dry and mild night. Perfectly poised, and no less so when Doak added a pair of penalties after 48 and 64 minutes, the second of which levelled the scores.
The momentum was all one way but, while Ulster broke the Munster defensive line time and again, they couldn’t capitalise fully on it until Nick Timoney went over for a converted try off the back of a scrum and a whole heap of mounting pressure prior to it.
Muster had snatched a last-gasp draw away to Benetton via a converted Tom Ahern try at the Stadio Monigo late last month but the late rally fell just short against an Ulster side that had blown a 17-point lead in Galway last week.
: E McIlroy; R Baloucoune, S Moore, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, N Doak; E O’Sullivan, T Stewart, G McGrath; C Izuchukwu, K Treadwell; D McCann, Marcus Rea, N Timoney.
: J Postlethwaite for McElroy (14); R Herring for Stewart, S Wilson for McGrath and I Henderson for Izuchukwu (all 50); D Ewers for Rea (59); J Cooney for Doak (69); J Flannery for Burns (72).
: S Daly; C Nash, A Frisch, A Nankivell, S O’Brien; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, D Barron, J Ryan; E Edogbo, F Wycherley; A Kendellen, J Hodnett, G Coombes.
: T Ahern for Edogbo, B Gleeson for Kendellen, J Wycherley for Loughman and S Archer for Ryan (all 50); S Buckley for Barron (53); R Scannell for Nankivell (60); B O’Connor for O’Brien (67); P Patterson for Casey (72).
: Frank Murphy (IRFU).
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