JUST ABOUT AND no more. Ulster squeezed home with an understrength team.
The optimistic will point to the vast number of 48 players used this season so far and the uptick in form. The pessimists will say how scrappy it all became and the control that vanished as the second half wore on.
Playing with the wind in the first half, with some squally showers blowing into the stadium that must have made Connacht feel at home, Ulster set the opening tempo high.
Dan McFarland, perhaps mindful of how they were beaten to the breakdown so frequently in the game last May, 15-10 to Connacht in the URC quarter-final, picked what many would feel to be his speedy options in the back row.
After just three minutes they had the first try of the game. An electrifying move down the left flank gave them the territory they required and after a few pick and mauls later, scrum half John Cooney was able to find doughty veteran Andy Warwick, all alone and ready to go over, Cooney making good with the conversion.
Just five minutes later Connacht were going close and it took Iain Henderson on the line to hold up Tom Farrell. But the pressure was high in the next phase and Bundee Aki flew over the line with some afters to follow. Jack Carty made the conversion.
Connacht were briefly under the impression they had the next try. Aki sent Sean O’Brien away into space and while he was taken down – and taken off in the next break in play – Shayne Bolton gathered and poked a grub kick forward that sat up nicely, eventually, but he just ran out of real estate on which to ground the ball.
The photograph here is instructive.
The tap penalty – such a weapon six days ago against Racing 92, was deployed again by Cooney on 20 minutes and the home side gained the necessary yards to once again recycle and put Nick Timoney over. The conversion was from seven yards off the touchline but Cooney floated it over to make it 14-7.
A measure of their aggression came when Mack Hansen was sacked twice in two minutes – the first time by that reborn Jacob Stockdale who is making a name for himself as a defensive force.
A penalty by Cooney on 51 minutes left them with a ten point advantage.
With the big unit replacements coming in, Connacht flipped the game on its’ head.
Shamus Hurley-Langton skipped along the touchline soon after avoiding the tackles to go over. There was a suspicion that his foot touched sideline chalk but that was waved away. However, the conversion was too tight for Carty.
Shayne Bolton wriggled through a gap to land Connacht’s next try on 69 minutes. JJ Hanrahan introduced two minutes before, landed the conversion to leave a single point in it.
Ulster asked a huge amount of their front row, as well as those retrieving Cooney’s box kicks as the needle ticked into red in the closing moments.
But in the end, they were awarded a penalty and smuggled it out the back of the scrum for Timoney to kick out. They made it. Just about.
Ulster scorers:
Tries: Andy Warwick (3), Timoney (19)
Conversions: John Cooney (3, 19)
Penalties: Cooney (51, 65)
Connacht scorers:
Tries: Bundee Aki (8), Shamus Hurley-Langton (60), Shayne Bolton (69)
Conversions: Jack Carty (8), JJ Hanrahan (69)
Penalties: 0
Ulster: Will Addison, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Jake Flannery, John Cooney; Andy Warwick, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Kieran Treadwell, Iain Henderson, Matty Rea, Sean Reffell, Nick Timoney
Replacements:
John Andrew for Stewart (52), Steven Kitshoff for Warwick (52) Tom O’Toole for Marty Moore (52), Harry Sheridan for Reffell (54), Jude Postlewaite for Hume (66), Alan O’Connor for Treadwell (69), Nathan Doak for Flannery (70), Shea O’Brien for Addison (77)
Connacht: Mack Hansen, Shayne Bolton, Tom Farrell, Bundee Aki, Byron Ralston, Jack Carty, Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Tadgh McElroy, Finlay Bealham, Darragh Murray, Gavin Thornbury, Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Sean O’Brien.
Replacements:
Conor Oliver for Sean O’Brien (14), Dave Heffernan for McElroy (52), Peter Dooley for Buckley (67), Jack Aungier for Bealham (67), Niall Murray for D Murray (63), JJ Hanrahan for Carty (67), Shane Jennings for Bolton (78)
Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
AR 1: Frank Murphy (IRFU) AR 2: Joy Neville (IRFU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
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