Five-try Munster A convincing winners as Ulster finish with 12 players
Munster's Ben O'Connor scored his side's second try against Ulster A at New Ormond Park. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Clohessy
Munster A picked up their first win of the interprovincial series with a 31-5 victory over their Ulster counterparts at a dry but extremely windy New Ormond Park in Nenagh.
The home side scored five tries, three coming in the second half, while Ulster had four players sin-binned and ended with just 12 men on the pitch.
Munster opened the scoring after nine minutes when centre Seán O’Brien touched down. Directed by scrum-half Jake O’Riordan, Munster kept it tight through several phases, sucking in the Ulster defence before going wide for O’Brien to easily score.
They had taken quick advantage of Ulster being down to 14 players. Shortly beforehand, inside centre Ben Carson was shown a yellow card for a tip tackle on John Hodnett. The Munster backrow, who had been sidelined since early January, was forced off after 20 minutes. He had won two turnovers but also shipped a couple of heavy hits.
22 minutes in, Munster got their second try. A well-timed Shay McCarthy tackle inside his own 22 led to Ulster spilling the ball. An alert O’Riordan picked it up, raced clear and was about to be caught by Ulster winger Jonathan Scott but Ben O’Connor was there to take the pass and score. Having witnessed the effect of the wind with his earlier conversion, Tony Butler kept his second kick low to make it 12-0. That remained the score until the break. It could have been closer on the scoreboard had Ulster not made life easier for Munster by conceding two penalties for crossing while in dangerous attacking positions.
Shortly before half-time, O’Riordan – who was having a fine game – was forced to leave the action with an injury.
Ulster opened the scoring in the second half. Winger Ben Moxham broke through poor attempted tackles by replacement scrum-half Paddy Patterson and Andrew Smith before offloading to James McKillop who reduced Munster’s advantage to seven points with 47 minutes played.
Munster hit back just under 10 minutes later through Max Clein. The hooker’s lineout throw five metres from the Ulster line was claimed by Conor Ryan. Clein broke off the resulting maul to score with Butler again kicking the conversion to make it 19-5.
After numerous phases close to the Ulster line, Conor Kennelly crashed over for Munster’s fourth try in the 65th minute. They found themselves in a good position after Patterson took a tap and go penalty minutes earlier. Butler continued his good day off the tee, extending Munster’s lead to 26-5.
Ulster were reduced to 13 players with time nearly up when both centre Wilhelm de Klerk and replacement hooker Henry Walker were shown yellow cards for another tip tackle. Remarkably, they would finish the game with 12 on the pitch after McKillop was sin-binned for collapsing a maul.
Munster replacement hooker Danny Sheahan took advantage of Ulster being down three players, breaking off a maul to score a try and seal a convincing win.
Tries: S O’Brien, B O’Connor, M Clein, C Kennelly, D Sheahan; Conv: T Butler 3Â
Tries: J McKillopÂ
Ben O’Connor; Andrew Smith, Fionn Gibbons, Seán O’Brien, Shay McCarthy; Tony Butler, Jake O’Riordan; Mark Donnelly, Max Clein, Ronan Foxe; Evan O’Connell (C), Conor Ryan; Michael Foy, John Hodnett, Ruadhán Quinn.
Danny Sheahan, George Hadden, Kieran Ryan, Conor Kennelly, Seán Edogbo, Rory Woods, Paddy Patterson, Dylan Hicks, Eoghan Smyth, Gene O’Leary Kareem.
 Ethan McIlroy (C); Jonathan Scott, Wilhelm De Klerk, Ben Carson, Ben Moxham; Jake Flannery, Conor McKee; Callum Reid, James McCormick, Flynn Longstaff; Joe Hopes, Paddy Woods; James McKillop, Tom Brigg, Lorcan McLoughlin
Henry Walker, Jacob Boyd, Tom McAllister, Ben Moore, Noah Bell, Clark Logan, James Humphreys, Owen O’Kane, Jon Rodgers
B Carson (6’), W de Klerk (80’), H Walker (80’), J McKillop (83’)Â
A Cole
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