Ulster 19 Munster 9:FOR ULSTER this was all about Magners League points, Heineken Cup survival. For Munster there was, naturally, the ever-present pride but also the important matter of the Millennium Stadium at the end of this month.
A shadow Munster side it was but one in which the likes of Peter Stringer, Anthony Foley and Mick O'Driscoll were at pains to show Declan Kidney they are still more than bench players for the big games.
But with the mental and physical toll against Saracens in the Heineken Cup semi-final just days old, Munster arrived without that stinging intensity they usually bring to games. Offloads went astray and tackles were missed.
The Scotland international centre Rob Dewey crashed through Stringer and Paul Warwick after 10 minutes for his first Ulster try.
For the second try it was secondrow Ryan Caldwell that tailed a rewarding first 40 minutes, when he too was lined up with Stringer. With momentum on his side and Ulster putting together a rare backline move in the Munster 22, the disparity in weight and size paid in spades.
It was most unlike the Heineken Cup finalists to fracture in defence that easily in a match that was initially scrappy and lacking the normal passion and abrasion that such meetings usually generate.
The first half floated along with very little happening in the danger areas but floated critically in Ulster's favour.
Munster would have gone in at half time and wondered how they were 11 points down and wondered too why only Foley's opportunistic kick for Anthony Horgan down the left flank was their best chances of the first half.
But that was how a forgettable 40 minutes had unfolded: a lot of loose play from both teams and a couple of moves from the home side that paid in spades.
Munster would have certainly thought they were well in the game but 10 minutes after the break a pivotal five-minute spell illustrated how far the visitors were from winning this game.
Donnacha Ryan took a lineout five metres out and Munster poured their big bodies to a sequence of pick-and-drive battles. They recycled at least 15 times with Ulster pinned on their line.
It was classic Munster and should have yielded the try but Ulster repelled every lunge.
Eventually the ball was turned over and outhalf Paddy Wallace booted high to safety.
If that phase was painful for the lack of return, the third Ulster try took the wind completely out of Munster's sails.
From Ulster's first attacking move after they had survived the Munster siege, Wallace delivered to the galloping Andrew Trimble with a skip pass from a scrum just inside the 22.
The centre's acutely angled run split the Munster defence for the third try and allowed Ulster believe the winning bonus point was a possibility.
The game was slipping rapidly from Munster's grasp but they are not easily discouraged, and in a sense they owed bottom-placed Connacht a full-blooded performance. They were adamant that fourth try was not going to go in.
And so the game was kept alive until the end, Munster running the ball out of their danger area and Ulster trying to bang holes through flanker Neil Best, Tommy Bowe and Trimble.
That's how it ended: Ulster happy and deserving winners, Munster looking exactly what they were, a shadow side.
SCORING SEQUENCE:10 mins: R Dewey try, P Wallace con 7-0; 13: Warwick pen 7-3; 41: R Caldwell pen, Wallace con 14-3 (half-time 14-3); 59: A Trimble try 19-3; 65: Warwick pen 19-6; 70: Warwick pen 19-9.
ULSTER:B Cunningham: T Bowe, A Trimble, R Dewey, M Bartholomeusz; P Wallace, I Boss; B Young, R Best (capt), T Court; C Del Fava, R Caldwell; M McCullough, K Dawson, S Ferris. Replacements: J Harrison for Caldwell (58 mins); J Fitzpatrick for Young (59 mins).
MUNSTER:S Payne; B Carney, B Murphy, K Lewis, A Horgan; P Warwick, P Stringer; F Pucciariello, F Sheahan, T Buckley: M O'Driscoll, D Ryan: J O'Sullivan, N Ronan, A Foley (capt). Replacements: J Manning for B Murphy (7 mins); J Coughlan for Horgan (44 mins); J Holland for Lewis (65 mins). Referee: A Lewis (Leinster).
