LET’S GET PHYSICAL
Westerners get to grips with Ulster’s power & come from 17 points down to win
22 20 MAN of the match Conor Oliver said that his side’s remarkable comeback at the Sportsground was down to them finally coming to terms with Ulster’s physicality.
Connacht came from 17 points adrift early in the second-half to stage a stunning comeback which made it three wins on the spin at the Sportsground and condemn Ulster to a first defeat of their URC campaign.
“Ulster have massive physicality and we might have struggled to match that in the first 20-30 minutes but after half-time we stuck to our gameplan and brought more physicality,” said Oliver.
Ulster, with out-half Jake Flannery scoring 13 points, looked set to maintain their winning start despite a dozen changes from their win over the Bulls.
But Connacht managed to regroup and fought back with three tries in front of a crowd of 5,468 at the Galway venue.
Both sides lost flankers inside two minutes with Shamus Hurleylangton of Connacht and Ulster’s Reuben Crothers, making his first start for his home province, forced to go off after a clash of heads.
Connacht enjoyed 62 per cent possession in the opening half but Ulster deservedly led 13-3 at the break with Flannery dictating.
Connacht skipper Jack Carty edged his side in front with a penalty from 30 metres but Flannery cancelled that three minutes later.
It took an excellent double tackle from Caolin Blade and Byron Ralston to deny Aaron Sexton in the left corner after 27 minutes.
But Ulster got in for the opening try six minutes from the break when former Irish U-20 lock Harry Sheridan broke from midfield and offloaded to send Flannery in under the posts for a converted try.
Two minutes later Flannery pushed the lead out to ten with a penalty in front of the posts.
Ulster made a glorious start to the second-half when James Hume and Sexton combined to send scrum-half Dave Shanahan in under the posts, with Flannery tapping over the conversion to lead by 20-3.
The Connacht response was good. Cathal Forde cut a superb line to skip through for their opening try after 48 minutes, with Carty converting to make it 20-10.
Carty then created the second try with a delayed pop pass which put the other centre Tom Farrell over and the Connacht captain then landed the conversion from the left to leave just three points between them after 54 minutes.
A penalty down the right eight minutes from time by Carty gave Connacht field possession and several phases later the Connacht out-half chipped across for Diarmuid Kilgallen to catch and touch down to win by two.
Tries - J Flannery, D Shanahan. Cons: Flannery. Pens: Flannery (2).