Rugby

Ulster do just enough against Connacht to win tense interpro

Losing bonus point a scant reward for Connacht after a strong second-half display

Ulster's Nick Timoney is tackled by Tadgh McElroy and Denis Buckley of Connacht. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Michael Sadlier at the Kingspan Stadium
Fri Dec 22 2023 - 21:47

Ulster 20 Connacht 19

Ulster did just enough to take this opening Christmas interpro and make it two wins from two while Connacht, who scored three tries to the hosts’ two, fell agonisingly short and now find themselves having to process five straight defeats.

It was no thing of beauty, nor sufficient fare to significantly bolster the festive cheer, but then the weather hardly helped nor that these were two sides not exactly brimming with confidence.

Not a great time for Pete Wilkins and his squad particularly after beating the northern province on the last two occasions the played, last May’s knockout victory in Belfast now looking ever distant from their current location.

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All the more disappointing, Connacht won the second half 12-6 and wee arguably the better team over this period, a losing bonus point scant reward from this tense affair.

Not for the first time this season, Ulster faced some disruption before the action began with starting fullback Michael Lowry withdrawing, Will Addison stepping up from the bench and Dave Ewers dropping out of from the bench, Harry Sheridan taking his place, but the late changes were not just confined to the hosts as Connacht lock Joe Joyce failed to make it over the start line, Gavin Thornbury taking his place.

Hardly the stuff of ideal preparation for either side on an evening which began with rain sweeping across a breezy Kingspan which periodically became heavy before periods when it also stopped. Not ideal but exactly something neither side have experienced before at their respective home grounds.

The game was only two minutes old when Andy Warwick got things motoring for Ulster when he dived over off John Cooney’s pass after the hosts had launched a multi-phased attack starting on the right with Will Addison and Nick Timoney and ended up with Jacob Stockdale on the left before some close in drives created the score.

Cooney converted and Connacht, who had barely touched the ball, were behind. But it didn’t last. The westerners got into Ulster’s red zone and from a tap-and-go penalty the Connacht pack trundled up to the line under Ulster’s posts, recycled and Bundee Aki smashed through Cooney to touch down, Carty added the two points to tie things up after nine minutes.

That clearly fired things up for the visitors, who nearly had another try five minutes later when Aki put Sean O’Brien through a defensive hole only for Shayne Bolton to just run out of road following Mack Hansen’s chip through, the ball just going dead.

With the rain, at this point, increasing in intensity, Jake Flannery produced a wonderfully accurate kick to the corner off an Ulster penalty – though he later kicked dead when having a go towards the opposite corner – and the northern province stayed in the zone for several minutes before a tap-and-go penalty on Iain Henderson produced a scoring chance which Nick Timoney did well to finish with some ballast behind him getting the number eight over the line. Again, Cooney converted, this time superbly from the touchline.

The game then entered a period of stalemate, neither side adding to their totals from Timoney’s 19th-minute effort until both trooped off for half-time with Ulster leading by just seven points.

Clearly the opening score after the restart looked pivotal and it fell to Ulster after a Stuart McCloskey charge resulted in Connacht being penalised at the breakdown. Though Kieran Treadwell broke through on penalty advantage, the play came back, and Cooney did the needful on 50 minutes.

Just before the half-hour, though, Connacht found a way through, a long pass to the edge finding Shamus Hurley-Langton who with a lot to do smashed Rob Baloucoune and Addison, Hume’s despairing tackle going upstairs but the Connacht flanker was adjudged to have stayed in play.

Carty was wide with from the difficult angle, but the westerners were very much in range again. Just when they needed some stability, a lineout was lost, and the net result was another Ulster penalty which Cooney dispatched on 65 minutes.

But fortune swung back Connacht’s way when a line break propelled Shayne Bolton through a gap and he brushed off Cooney before sliding over. Carty supplied a superb conversion and now the visitors were a point adrift which is how it ended.

Scoring sequence: 2mins Warwick try, Cooney con 7-0, 9mins; Aki try, Carty con, 7-7; 19mins Timoney try, Cooney con 14-7, h-t 14-7; 50mins Cooney pen 17-7; 59 Hurley-Langton try 17-12; 68mins Bolton, Carty con 20-19.

Ulster: W Addison, R Baloucoune, J Hume, S McCloskey, J Stockdale, J Flannery, J Cooney; A Warwick, T Stewart, M Moore, K Treadwell, I Henderson (capt), Matty Rea, S Reffell, N Timoney.

Replacements: J Andrew for Stewart mins, S Kitshoff for Warwick 51mins, T O’Toole for Moore 51mins, A O’Connor for Treadwell 69mins, H Sheridan for Raffell 54mins, N Doak for Flannery 60mins, J Postlethwaite for Hume 66mins, S O’Brien for Addison 76mins.

Connacht: M Hansen, S Bolton, B Ralston, T Farrell, B Aki, J Carty (capt), C Blade; D Buckley, T McElroy, F Bealham, D Murray, G Thornbury, C Prendergast, S Hurley-Langton, S O’Brien.

Replacements: D Heffernan for McElroy 50mins, P Dooley for Buckley 64mins, J Aungier for Bealham 64mins, N Murray for D Murray for 63mins, C Oliver for O’Brien 13mins, M McDonald for mins, JJ Hanrahan for Aki 65mins, S Jennings for Bolton 77mins.

Referee: E Cross (IRFU)

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