LAST UPDATE | 10 Nov 2023
ULSTER 21
MUNSTER 14
ULSTER HALTED A recent poor run of results against Munster with a second half inspired by the returning Iain Henderson and Rob Herring that exuded authority.
Up to their introduction they had looked insipid and almost not fully engaged. By the end, withstanding a seven-minute onslaught as Munster chased a share of the spoils, they greeted the final whistle of Frank Murphy by falling to the floor, exhausted and spent and totally in synch with an ecstatic home crowd.
It felt different up to the final stretch.
Edwin Edogbo got the legs pumping in the first couple of minutes, an early sign that Munster were here to exert themselves.
A knock-on offence by Jacob Stockdale on five minutes allowed Munster outhalf Jack Crowley to pop the ball into the corner and from the set play Munster set up camp no more than 20 metres from the try line for all of six minutes.
The deadlock eventually ended with Craig Casey sniping in at an uncovered angle to secure the try, Jack Crowley adding the conversion.
On twelve minutes Ulster finally got their first meaningful possession and after bashing their way upfield for a few minutes, Ethan McIlroy looked likely to go over only for Diarmuid Barron to make the first contact and Shane Daly to come in with a brutal challenge that had the officials consulting with each other over replays on the big screen.
Daly was then served a yellow, with McIlroy had to be replaced by on 20 minutes, with Nathan Doak thumping over the resultant penalty.
Just four minutes later though Crowley put Munster into the right hand corner again with another kick. The pressure was applied, shifted around the place and across to the left hand side where Casey got his latches right and went over on the left side of the posts under the Nevin Spence Memorial Stand. Again, Crowley converted a moderately difficult kick.
24 minutes gone and Munster were ahead by 14-3.
The home side were in need of something to rouse a crowd that was verging on tetchy and in the next sequence looked unlike the team that had fielded for the first half hour.
A little bit of dash and daring threatened to prise open the Munster defence before Billy Burns gambled with a long range crossfield pass that looked miles ahead of Jacob Stockdale with not much real estate to land it on.
But he did and it popped up perfectly for Stockdale to take it without breaking stride and go over in the corner. Less said about Nathan Doak’s conversion attempt the better as he got stuck under the ball and spooned it up in the air and short of the posts as the half drew to a scrappy close.
Ulster unloaded a mini bomb squad of their own when they send in Iain Henderson, Rob Herring and Scott Wilson to add a bit of punch. In that moment, Herring became Ulster’s most-capped player.
From that moment, Ulster began making progress on the intangibles. The stats were piling up with the line break count favouring the northern province, but they couldn’t make it count due to execution and handling glitches.
That was until Doak brought the home side level for the first with a penalty on 64 minutes.
Four minutes later, the much-voiced concerns about Ulster’s pack and how they might stand up to Munster were answered. They put together a powerful heave and Nick Timoney went over to take the lead, Doak adding the two points before being instantly replaced by another welcome returnee, John Cooney.
Cue the Munster avalanche. Cue the ‘Ulster’ chants and a gripping closing sequence to a game that felt oddly off for most of it.
Ulster scorers:
Tries: Jacob Stockdale (33), Nick Timoney (68)
Conversions: Nathan Doak (68)
Penalties: Doak (12, 45, 64)
Munster scorers:
Tries: Craig Casey (11, 24)
Conversions: Jack Crowley (11, 24)
Penalties: 0
ULSTER
Ethan McIlroy, Rob Baloucoune, Stewart Moore, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak; Eric O’Sullivan, Tom Stewart (C), Greg McGrath, Cormac Izuchkwu, Kieran Treadwell, David McCann, Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney
Replacements: Jude Postlethwaite for McIlroy (20), Rob Herring for Tom Stewart, Scott Wilson for Greg McGrath, Iain Henderson for Cormac Izuchukwu (all 49), Dave Ewers for Marcus Rea (60), John Cooney for Nathan Doak (69), Jake Flannery for Billy Burns (72)
MUNSTER
Shane Daly, Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell, Sean O’Brien, Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron (C), John Ryan; Edwin Edogbo, Fineen Wycherly, Alex Kendellen, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes
Replacements: Brian Gleeson for Alex Kendellen, Josh Wycherly for Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer for John Ryan, Tom Ahern for Edwin Edogba (all 50), Scott Buckley for Diarmuid Barron (52), Rory Scannell for Alex Nankivell (60), Ben O’Connor for Sean O’Brien (66), Paddy Patterson for Craig Casey (72)
Referee: Frank Murphy