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Ulster 15Connacht 22
Sean Farrell reports from Kingspan Stadium
NOVEMBER 1960 CAN finally be laid to rest in Connacht Rugby folklore, because the western province exorcised ghosts of the Ravenhill past to record a landmark win.
Though Tiernan O’Halloran and Bundee Aki stormed away for tries in either half, it was fitting that the game-tilting score was a penalty try, because this was a victory belonging to Connacht’s pack.
Their back-line arsenal ordinarily takes the plaudits, but Jimmy Duffy’s forwards bullied their way to dominating Ravenhill, rebuffing mauls and owning the scrum.
Yet the early exchanges seemed to suggest the cards were falling in Ulster’s favour as, first, Kieran Marmion and then O’Halloran hobbled off injured.
Connacht though, insisted on making their own luck.
O’Halloran’s knock came in the act of scoring a superb sixth-minute try. Nigel Carolan’s set-move was clinically executed with a Jarrad Butler reverse pass and Tom Farrell sending Matt Healy blasting through the gap. The wing passed outside to his fullback who dotted down despite being tackled before the line.
Without an away win over the northern province in 58 years, Connacht needed to be bullish and bullish they were.
A cutting statement of intent was laid down in the 15th minute as a penalty 15 metres from Ulster’s try-line was used to set in motion a crushing series of scrums.
Finlay Bealham and Denis Buckley went to work on Andrew Warwick and young Tom O’Toole and Connacht’s front eight squeezed and squeezed until all seven points came via penalty try.
14 points down, Ulster needed a response.
In truth, they had needed one from kick-off after the Thomond thumping suffered last week, but it arrived thanks to a Cian Kelleher error.
Billy Burns’ cross-kick in the Connacht 22 lacked accuracy, but it just about did the job as the scrum-half was unable to collect and that poacher Jacob Stockdale dotted down.
The Ireland wing appeared to have a foot in touch while scoring, but Ulster’s TMO luck didn’t bear any more change in the first half.
Source: James Crombie/INPHO
Angus Kernohan and Peter Nelson both thought they had chased down points, both were called back for offside, earning referee Andrew Brace a small chorus of boos when the teams walked in at half-time with the score reading 5 -14.
Indeed, it may have been slightly worse than that had Connacht put a little less faith in their pack and set-piece.
Kernohan’s crossed-off finish was brought all the way back to the Ulster 22 where Stockdale had been adjudged to be in front of the kicker. Connacht passed on a relatively straightforward three in search of a killer blow. Ulster managed to withstand.
It was after half-time that history truly began to beckon for the visitors. Direct from the kick-off Matty Rea clumsily clattered Cian Kelleher as he took flight and the replacement spun well over the horizontal and dangerously to the turf.
No option for Brace. Red.