A WINTER TALE of two halves. The first was a brutal beast of a yoke, pockmarked by errors as light snow fell over Belfast, but the second was more a thing of beauty, although exclusively for Ulster.
Richie Murphy’s men contributed plenty of the handling mistakes in the opening 40 minutes, yet they kicked on impressively after the break as they retained belief in their attacking skills. Munster had nothing in response.
Second-half tries from powerful hooker Tom Stewart, former Munster man Jake Flannery, and teak-tough player of the match Bryn Warddid the damage as Ulster moved above Munster and up to second in the URC table. That’s despite playing a game fewer than the rivals now below them.
This completes an excellent first half to the regular season for Ulster and a fine flurry of inter-pros in which they ran Leinster close, beat Connacht in Galway, and left Munster with nothing to show for their trek north.
This was not a good night for Munster, who just made errors throughout, and the result was compounded by losing back rows John Hodnett and Alex Kendellen to worrying-looking injuries, while centre Alex Nankivell was also forced off. Not ideal ahead of next Sunday’s Champions Cup trip to Toulon.
Ulster, meanwhile, head back onto Challenge Cup duty with their good vibes continuing to roll. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means – they’ll be disappointed not to have grabbed the bonus point with Munster so poor – but the likes of Werner Kok, brothers Zac and Bryn Ward, James Hume, and Stewart all shone again as they proved too good for Munster. That hasn’t been the case in recent meetings between the provinces.
The only real concern for Ulster was an injury to in-form fullback Jacob Stockdale early in the first half.
Nick Timoney and Zac Ward celebrate. Andrew Conan / INPHO
Andrew Conan / INPHO / INPHO
The first snowfall pre-match in Belfast meant handling conditions were going to be challenging, while apparent issues with the turnstiles meant that there were still big queues outside coming close to kick-off.
It turned out there wasn’t much to miss in a terrible first half that left Ulster 6-3 ahead thanks to two Nathan Doak penalties, with JJ Hanrahan slotting Munster’s three points off the tee.
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The skill level was poor all round but Ulster came to life after the interval as Doak added a third penalty, then Kok broke out off a clever Hume offload from the restart. Suddenly, Ulster were rolling.
The Wards soon made back-to-back breaks to leave their side within sight of the Munster tryline and though Stockdale had a possible finish in the left corner chalked off, Ulster went back to their penalty advantage, tapped it, and smashed over through hooker Stewart.
Flannery was next over as Stuart McCloskey led a turnover close to Munster’s line, out-half Jack Murphy swung the ball wide, Kok gathered on the bounce, and slickly sent the replacement fullback, on for Stockdale, over to score.
Munster couldn’t come up with anything close to a real shot of their own and Ulster sensed that the bonus point was within reach.
Explosive 21-year-old number eight Ward barreled over from close range for their third and though the try-scoring bonus point never arrived, Ulster fans headed for home happy with the outcome.
Ulster scorers:
Tries: Tom Stewart, Jake Flannery, Bryn Ward
Conversions: Nathan Doak [2 from 3]
Penalties: Nathan Doak [3 from 3]
Munster scorers:
Penalties: JJ Hanrahan [1 from 1]
ULSTER: Jacob Stockdale (Jake Flannery ’49); Werner Kok, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey (Jude Postlethwaite ’61), Zac Ward; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak (Conor McKee ’79); Angus Bell (Eric O’Sullivan ‘), Tom Stewart (Rob Herring ’57), Tom O’Toole (Scott Wilson ’57); Iain Henderson (captain) (Harry Sheridan ’57), Joe Hopes; Cormac Izuchukwu (David McCann 61′), Nick Timoney, Bryn Ward.
MUNSTER: Mike Haley (Tony Butler ’57); Calvin Nash, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell (Seán O’Brien ’65), Thaakir Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, Paddy Patterson (Ethan Coughlan ’49); Josh Wycherley (Jeremy Loughman ’49), Diarmuid Barron (captain) (Lee Barron ’72), Michael Ala’alatoa (Conor Bartley ’49); Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Tom Ahern, John Hodnett (Brian Gleeson ’12), Alex Kendellen (Jack O’Donoghue ’51).
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Ulster down Munster with second-half blitz to surge to second in URC
Ulster 28
Munster 3
A WINTER TALE of two halves. The first was a brutal beast of a yoke, pockmarked by errors as light snow fell over Belfast, but the second was more a thing of beauty, although exclusively for Ulster.
Richie Murphy’s men contributed plenty of the handling mistakes in the opening 40 minutes, yet they kicked on impressively after the break as they retained belief in their attacking skills. Munster had nothing in response.
Second-half tries from powerful hooker Tom Stewart, former Munster man Jake Flannery, and teak-tough player of the match Bryn Ward did the damage as Ulster moved above Munster and up to second in the URC table. That’s despite playing a game fewer than the rivals now below them.
This completes an excellent first half to the regular season for Ulster and a fine flurry of inter-pros in which they ran Leinster close, beat Connacht in Galway, and left Munster with nothing to show for their trek north.
This was not a good night for Munster, who just made errors throughout, and the result was compounded by losing back rows John Hodnett and Alex Kendellen to worrying-looking injuries, while centre Alex Nankivell was also forced off. Not ideal ahead of next Sunday’s Champions Cup trip to Toulon.
Ulster, meanwhile, head back onto Challenge Cup duty with their good vibes continuing to roll. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means – they’ll be disappointed not to have grabbed the bonus point with Munster so poor – but the likes of Werner Kok, brothers Zac and Bryn Ward, James Hume, and Stewart all shone again as they proved too good for Munster. That hasn’t been the case in recent meetings between the provinces.
The only real concern for Ulster was an injury to in-form fullback Jacob Stockdale early in the first half.
The first snowfall pre-match in Belfast meant handling conditions were going to be challenging, while apparent issues with the turnstiles meant that there were still big queues outside coming close to kick-off.
It turned out there wasn’t much to miss in a terrible first half that left Ulster 6-3 ahead thanks to two Nathan Doak penalties, with JJ Hanrahan slotting Munster’s three points off the tee.
The skill level was poor all round but Ulster came to life after the interval as Doak added a third penalty, then Kok broke out off a clever Hume offload from the restart. Suddenly, Ulster were rolling.
The Wards soon made back-to-back breaks to leave their side within sight of the Munster tryline and though Stockdale had a possible finish in the left corner chalked off, Ulster went back to their penalty advantage, tapped it, and smashed over through hooker Stewart.
Flannery was next over as Stuart McCloskey led a turnover close to Munster’s line, out-half Jack Murphy swung the ball wide, Kok gathered on the bounce, and slickly sent the replacement fullback, on for Stockdale, over to score.
Munster couldn’t come up with anything close to a real shot of their own and Ulster sensed that the bonus point was within reach.
Explosive 21-year-old number eight Ward barreled over from close range for their third and though the try-scoring bonus point never arrived, Ulster fans headed for home happy with the outcome.
Ulster scorers:
Tries: Tom Stewart, Jake Flannery, Bryn Ward
Conversions: Nathan Doak [2 from 3]
Penalties: Nathan Doak [3 from 3]
Munster scorers:
Penalties: JJ Hanrahan [1 from 1]
ULSTER: Jacob Stockdale (Jake Flannery ’49); Werner Kok, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey (Jude Postlethwaite ’61), Zac Ward; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak (Conor McKee ’79); Angus Bell (Eric O’Sullivan ‘), Tom Stewart (Rob Herring ’57), Tom O’Toole (Scott Wilson ’57); Iain Henderson (captain) (Harry Sheridan ’57), Joe Hopes; Cormac Izuchukwu (David McCann 61′), Nick Timoney, Bryn Ward.
MUNSTER: Mike Haley (Tony Butler ’57); Calvin Nash, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell (Seán O’Brien ’65), Thaakir Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, Paddy Patterson (Ethan Coughlan ’49); Josh Wycherley (Jeremy Loughman ’49), Diarmuid Barron (captain) (Lee Barron ’72), Michael Ala’alatoa (Conor Bartley ’49); Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Tom Ahern, John Hodnett (Brian Gleeson ’12), Alex Kendellen (Jack O’Donoghue ’51).
Referee: Mike Adamson [SRU].
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Belfast Munster Report Ulster URC whitewash