Ulster 27
Northampton Saints 22
TWO FROM TWO go Ulster in the Heineken Champions Cup, but they know they should have been a lot further out of sight in this one than the scoreline suggested.
Their 10-point lead at the interval against a Northampton Saints team that had been down to 14-men for a while and had barely breached their 22 always felt treacherous, and even up to the end there was always a fear that the Saints had a game-changing moment in them.
Rob Herring went over after just 113 seconds in a rapid start for the hosts, a penalty try furthered their lead and a wonder score from winger Ethan McIlroy had them three to the good, with Craig Gilroy’s second-half score wrapping up the fourth try and bonus point.
There may be some concern for Dan McFarland over how his side couldn’t hold off a stubborn Saints side, who continued to chip away on the scoreboard through the boot of George Furbank and threatened a fightback through scores from Alex Mitchell and Courtnall Skosan, but the visitors would come up just short.
There will be concern, too, over centre Stuart McCloskey, who departed early, and captain Iain Henderson, who limped off down the tunnel early in the second half. The hope is that both of those were precautionary rather than reactionary.
Such was Ulster’s rapid start that they were ahead inside the first two minutes of the contest having given Northampton just two touches off the ball off Billy Burns’ kick-off.
Mike Lowry and McIlroy masterminded the counter-attack from deep to take them up to the Saints 22 and after a nice burst from the lively James Hume, a quick, short pass from Burns set Herring through the gap and under the posts for the opening score.
Furbank would put the visitors on the board with his first penalty of the night but soon the Englishmen would be down another try and a man – Mitchell guilty of deliberately knocking the ball down five metres from his own line as Herring tried to feed Cooney on his outside, leaving referee Andrea Piardi no option but to go to the pocket and then under the posts.
Once again Furbank would reduce the gap through the boot straight off the restart, but that preceded the try of the night, and what a score it was from one of the burgeoning talents of this Ulster team.
It was Hume who set it up, taking the ball deep and chipping over the top for McIlroy to run onto on the halfway line, but from there the winger produced some individual magic to go over, selling Skosan an outrageous dummy before just beating Ollie Sleightholme to the line to dot down.
Somehow, though, that would be as good as it got for the hosts before the interval, and instead they found themselves pegged back by two more Furbank penalties which made it a one-score game at the break.
Cooney knocked over his only penalty of the game five minutes after the restart to make it a two-score game once more, but there was plenty of concern around Kingspan Stadium when Henderson was helped off and then pictured heading straight down the tunnel in pain.
But back on the pitch, things were going Ulster’s way and a small degree of luck earned them their bonus point score, Ahsee Tuala completely misjudging a crossfield effort from Billy Burns and the ball dropping perfectly into the hands of a disbelieving Gilroy for the fourth.
That was the score that would wrap up the win, but it didn’t much feel like it as Saints emptied the bench and went in search of a comeback win that did threaten to come.
Mitchell made amends for his yellow card when he darted over from close range for their first try of the night and then Skosan took advantage of another good break from the nippy scrum-half to add their second with three minutes remaining, but it would prove to be too little, too late for the visitors.
Ulster instead roll on. Given the drama earlier in the day, it might not matter much. But in terms of momentum, this was a big one to end up on the right side of.
Ulster scorers:
Tries: Herring, Penalty, McIlroy, Gilroy
Conversions: Cooney, Penalty
Penalty: Cooney
Northampton Saints scorers:
Tries: Mitchell, Skosan
Penalties: Furbank (4)
ULSTER: Mike Lowry; Craig Gilroy, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey (Stewart Moore 19), Ethan McIlroy; Billy Burns, John Cooney; Andrew Warwick (Jack McGrath 61), Rob Herring (John Andrew 55), Marty Moore (Tom O’Toole 57); Alan O’Connor (Sam Carter 66), Iain Henderson (Kieran Treadwell 48); Marcus Rea (Greg Jones 73), Nick Timoney, Duane Vermuelen.
Subs not used: Nathan Doak.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS: Ahsee Tuala (Rory Hutchinson 33-40, 59); Ollie Sleightholme, Matt Proctor, Fraser Dingwall, Courtnall Skosan; George Furbank, Alex Mitchell; Alex Waller (Emmanuel Iyogun 52), Mike Haywood (James Fish 52), Ehren Painter (Conor Carey 52); David Ribbans, Api Ratuniyarawa (Alex Coles 67); Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Tom Wood (Juarno Augustus 55).
Subs not used: Tom James, James Grayson.
Yellow card: Alex Mitchell (16′)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
Former Munster hooker Mike Sherry joins Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey to discuss all the goings on from one of the most insane weeks of Irish rugby news in living memory.
