Friend hails his tight five as Connacht double up

CONNACHT saw off Ulster for the third time in a row and earned their first ever double over the northern province to inject fresh impetus into their PRO14 play-off hopes.

Shane Delahunt and Ireland centre Bundee Aki scored tries in the opening 20 minutes before Angus Kernohan hit back for Ulster.

But Caolin Blade’s try three minutes after the restart set Connacht on their way to victory.

After Ultan Dillane was sin-binned in the final quarter for taking out a lineout lifter, Ulster closed the gap with a Jordi Murphy try, but the home side held on for the win.

It was a disappointing first inter-provincial back at the Sportsground for former Connacht favourite Dan McFarland, but he praised the passion of his side as their spirited fight back went unrewarded.

He said: “It does not matter where you go, if you turn the ball over six times in the first 15 or 20 minutes and find yourselves 14-0 down, it makes for a difficult night.

“That was a situation where we could so easily have been knocked over. But we got back on our feet and dominated large parts of the game.

“We still managed to score a couple of tries but it ultimately wasn’t enough.”

This was a dominant performance from Connacht, the PRO12 champions in 2016.

They ruled at scrumtime, turned over two Ulster lineouts and had a perfect 13 on their own throw, while the win was carved from a strong defensive showing.

Delahunt and Aki both scored a couple of phases after Connacht driving lineouts were halted, and only a 33rd minute error from Cian Kelleher in the air allowed Kernohan to give Ulster hope.

But that disappeared after the break when Connacht launched a short side move off the back of a maul and Blade eventually crossed.

Coach Andy Friend picked out his tight five for particular praise and said he thinks they are the best in the competition.

“I said in the shed downstairs, our forward pack at the moment is just phenomenal,” said Friend. “For me they are the best team in the comp in terms of delivering a platform.

“Our lineout is solid, our scrum is very very solid, we won three scrum penalties there tonight.

“I tip my hat to the forwards they are definitely laying that platform for us and we can launch off that,” added Friend, whose side host Munster next week in a key clash in their conference.