Rampant Ulster end tour on a high note

ULSTER exorcised the demons from Bloemfontein and ended their South African tour by taking six points back home — five coming from this six-try beating of the Kings.

Next up will be two home games after a week’s break.

Securing that point from the Cheetahs may prove to be far more valuable than first thought, if what befell Munster at Bloemfontein’s altitude is anything to go by.

Bearing in mind that the Kings had run Cardiff and Munster reasonably close, this was by no means a gimme for Ulster, so to rack up six tries, with five being scored in the first half, was just what was needed to restore confidence.

And yet there is still a slight niggle about this performance.

For all the accuracy seen in the first half, Ulster never really revisited those heights, with the second 40 minutes degenerating into a frustrating stodge of messy play.

The game was, of course, well and truly won by the time John Cooney converted his second try in the 31st minute – putting the visitors 35-3 ahead, with the try bonus already harvested. This, no doubt, contributed to shaping Ulster’s loss of cohesion and intensity.

Sean Reidy’s easy maul score, 18 minutes after the restart, was the last time Ulster registered after Cooney converted and was called ashore.

SOUTHERN KINGS – M Banda; J Twum-Boafo (JC Astle 56), T Kruger, JT Jackson, C Winnaar; D Catrakilis (S Sithole h-t), S Ungerer (J Allderman 25); J Schoeman (A Tshakweni h-t), A van Rooyen (J du Toit h-t), R de Klerk (P Scholtz 30); J Sexton (B de Wee 37), A Fortuin; L Badiyana (capt), M Burger, R Lerm (E Louw h-t).

ULSTER – M Faddes; C Gilroy, L Marshall, S McCloskey (J Hume 46), L Ludik; B Burns (A Curtis 70), J Cooney (D Shanahan 61); E O’Sullivan (K McCall 56), R Herring (capt) (A McBurney 55), T O’Toole (R Kane 65); A O’Connor, S Carter (K Treadwell 52); M Rea, S Reidy, M Coetzee (G Jones 67) (R Herring 71-79).

REFEREE – Craig Evans (WRU).