No Christmas hangover as Ulster seal bonus-point triumph
ULSTER did what they needed to do in winning their first Irish derby of the season, and their last game of 2019, by seeing off Connacht and scoring five tries to collect maximum points at a sold-out Kingspan.
The westerners were put to the sword in the second half thanks to tries from the dangerous Robert Baloucoune, skipper Rob Herring — who had just returned from the bin — with the bonus-point effort, and Nick Timoney.
Alan O’Connor and Billy Burns had bagged tries in the opening 40 minutes.
All the scores were converted, John Cooney kicking four and Bill Johnston slotting Timoney’s 76th-minute try.
It meant that Ulster closed the gap to seven points on Conference A leaders Leinster, who play today at Munster.
It was a tricky opening half for Dan McFarland’s men who led 14-3 thanks to tries from O’Connor and Burns, though only some last-ditch defending and Connacht’s failure to take two clear opportunities had limited the westerners to just three points.
Ulster finished the half without skipper Herring, who was yellow-carded, and lost both Marcell Coetzee and Louis Ludik to injury.
Going into the game, Ulster had already made it clear that winning their first inter-pro of the season was very much the desired outcome after last week’s defeat to Leinster and November’s loss at Munster.
Seeing off 2019 the right way was also part of the agenda as Ulster, as is the way with home Irish derbies over the festive period, went nearly as full strength as they could to get back to winning ways and build momentum ahead of Munster’s visit next Friday and the return to Europe.
The game was only three minutes old when Will Addison collected his own chip and put Baloucoune in space down the right. Though the winger, in his first game back from injury, sped away to dot down, the pass supplied by Addison had clearly been forward and was called that way to Connacht’s relief.
The westerners then steadied themselves and got into the game. Marty Moore was pinged for not releasing in the ninth minute, though after Dave Heffernan’s break from a subsequent driving maul had seemingly resulted in a try when Caolin Blade dashed over, only to be excellently held up by Baloucoune and Coetzee, they had to be content with a Conor Fitzgerald penalty three minutes later.
It was a poor return for their period of pressure which followed Blade’s seemingly nailedon try and Ulster responded in an appropriate manner eight minutes later.
This time a penalty against Blade was kicked to the corner and though Joe Maksymiw beat Kieran Treadwell to the ball when Herring threw long, O’Connor pounced and was given the score.
Cooney’s conversion put Ulster 7-3 up.
Just after the 20th minute, they had their second try. Another missed high kick from Cooney gave Ulster possession and they swung it right where former Ulster prop Paddy McCallister smashed into Coetzee and ended his game with what looked to be a no-arms tackle.
The ball, though, was kept alive and found its way to Baloucoune, who made ground and passed inside to Sean Reidy. The flanker threw an over the top pass to Burns who somehow outstripped the cover to score.
Cooney’s conversion made it 14-3 to the home side just as Ulster were disrupted again as Ludik limped off to be replaced by Craig Gilroy.
Then, shortly after Addison’s grubber for Baloucoune was too long, Connacht had a strong finish to the half.
After Luke Marshall was pinged for a seat-belt tackle on John Porch, the westerners camped on Ulster’s line and put together over 30 phases.
With a penalty coming, Addison’s hit on Peter Robb ended Connacht’s huge surge but they were still in position and took the scrum with Adam McBurney coming on and Gilroy making way.
A score seemed certain but Conor Fitzgerald’s cross-kick to recently-introduced replacement Stephen Fitzgerald wasn’t touched down.
They came again but Ulster survived to lead 14-3 at the break thanks to a turnover from Reidy and Nick Timoney winning a crucial penalty.
Four minutes in and they had their third try when Addison’s half-break enabled Cooney to feed Timoney, whose swift pass to Baloucoune saw the winger surge over. Cooney’s conversion made it 21-3 just before Herring returned.
It was no surprise that the bonus-point score followed with Herring getting it after a penalty to the corner allowed him to drive off the maul to score.
Cooney did the needful for his fourth conversion from four.
Connacht replacement Shane Delahunt was sin-binned with 20 minutes to go and Timoney crossed with four minutes left, which Johnston converted.