Aki seals deal as Connacht finally bury Belfast blues

CONNACHT finally cracked it. It took 58 years but that just made it all the sweeter for the men from the west in a game that had everything.

In a pulsating first half there were injuries, tries, disallowed tries, a yellow card, and then a red card for Ulster flanker Matty Rea, who upended replacement wing Cian Kelleher straight from the second-half restart.

Alas, if Connacht thought they were going to give Ulster a bit of a kicking when they were down, they were sadly wrong.

Leading 14-8 at the break, everyone expected fireworks from Connacht.

They had stretched their lead to 22-8 with eight minutes remaining thanks to a Bundee Aki try, and were going for the kill.

But Ulster fought to the very end, and they managed steal a losing bonus point right at the death thanks to the pace of flanker Nick Timoney.

It was the great No 8 Tony O’Sullivan who led the charge in 1960 when Connacht last defeated Ulster in Belfast. This time, the Connacht pack was led by Ultan Dillane.

Connacht got the scoreboard moving first.

In their first attack, in the fifth minute, Tiernan O’Halloran was put over after Matt Healy sliced through the midfield, although it took Irish referee Andy Brace some deliberation before deciding that Tom Farrell had not acted as a screen.

Unfortunately O’Halloran had to leave the field immediately afterwards with what looked like a similar injury to Kieran Marmion, who twisted his ankle during the chase for the kick-off.

Despite losing two key men, Connacht were still revved up and after they destroyed three consecutive Ulster scrums, a fourth drive left the referee with no option but to award a penalty try.

At 14-0 in front, Connacht were flying.

But in contrast to last week’s mauling by Munster, Ulster responded well to a poor start on this occasion. And it was Ireland wing Jacob Stockdale, playing his first game of the season, who latched on to a Caolin Blade fumble behind his own line from a Billy Burns cross-field kick, and superbly touched down with an inch to spare.

Then came two more crucial decisions by a busy referee and TMO Olly Hodges as they ruled out tries by Angus Kernohan and Peter Nelson in quick succession.

Twice the referee went upstairs and twice the decision was that Stockdale, and then Nelson, had both strayed offside from an original kick ahead. Both were correct decisions.

Just before the break there was more Ulster woe as No 8 Marcell Coetzee saw yellow for a high tackle on Aki.

Then came that wreckless Rea charge immediately from the restart and his game was over.

Down to 13 men, it looked like it was only a matter of time before Connacht began to turn the screw.

But it was Ulster who were next on the scoreboard with scrum-half John Cooney knocking over a penalty in the 53rd minute. But slowly Connacht began to flex their muscles again, with Carty banging over a similar penalty.

Then came a couple breathless charges from Dillane, and a tiring Ulster defence allowed Aki to steal through a big hole to score.

Connacht looked to be going for the jugular in the final eight minutes, but it was Ulster who finished the stronger with that 50-metre burst from Timoney.

Connacht will be celebrating on the way home to Galway today after a superb win.

ULSTER – P Nelson; A Kernohan, A Curtis (J Hume 66), S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns (J McPhillips, 65), J Cooney; A Warwick (E O’Sullivan, 53), R Best (capt) (A McBurney 65), T O’Toole (R Kane 41); A O’Connor (K Treadwell 66), I Henderson; M Rea, N Timoney, M Coetzee (S Reidy 65).

CONNACHT – T O’Halloran; N Adeolokun, T Farrell (K Godwin, 40), B Aki, M Healy; J Carty, K Marmion; D Buckley (P McCabe, 53), T McCartney (S Delahunt, 57), F Bealham (C Carey 57); U Dillane, Q Roux; S O’Brien, J Butler (capt), P Boyle. REF – Andy Brace (IRFU).