Ulster survive shark attack

ULSTER coach Dan McFarland was relieved his men survived a late barrage from the Sharks to book a home quarter-final after an exciting encounter at Kingspan Stadium.

Ulster were coasting to victory when they led 24-7 with just four minutes remaining but two converted tries meant a nervous final play for the home side in Belfast.

“They showed a bit of brilliance at the end and got back within touching distance,” said McFarland. “It wasn’t very comfortable for a few minutes. Apart from that I was very pleased. I thought for a big chunk of that game we controlled it.”

Ulster led 10-0 at the break when Ethan McIlroy put full-back Michael Lowry through to score after 26 minutes and they pushed on three minutes after the restart when Stuart McCloskey broke through to score.

The Sharks got back in contention when replacement loosehead Ntuthuko Mchunu surged over going into the final quarter.

Ulster, with Nick Timoney outstanding, seemed to have killed off the game when James Hume got their third try after good work by Robert Baloucoune and John Cooney.

But the Sharks were not finished. Marius Louw was sent over after superb work by replacement scrum-half Grant Williams with four minutes remaining, with Boeta Chamberlain converting.

Then Williams set up a grandstand finish with a stunning run from deep inside his own half to score, with Chamberlain’s conversion cutting the gap to just three points.

But Ulster kept their nerve in the final play, regaining possession for Nathan Doak to thump the ball into the stands and secure their home quarterfinal and leave the South Africans depending on an unlikely set of results to prevent them travelling for their knockout clash.

TEAMS

ULSTER Lowry 6 (Lyttle 31); Baloucoune 6, Hume 8 (Moore 30-41, 72, 6), McCloskey 8, McIlroy 6; Burns 7, Cooney 8 (Doak 79, 5); Warwick 6 (O’Sullivan 55, 6), Herring 7 (Andrew 75, 5), O’Toole 7 (Milasinovich 55, 6); O’Connor 6 (Treadwell 55, 6), Henderson (c) 8; Marcus Rea 7, Timoney 9, Vermeulen 7 (Matty Rea 66, 6)

SHARKS: Fassi 6; Kok 7, Am 7, Louw 7, Mapimpi 6; Bosch 7 (Chamberlain 74, 5), Hendrikse 7 (Williams 60, 7); Nche 7 (Mchunu 59, 7), Mbonambi 6 (Van Vurren 59, 6), Du Toit (c) 6 (Du Toit 71, 5); Van Heerden 6, Hugo 6 (Andrews 59, 7); Kolisi 7, Venter 7 (Notshe 66, 6), Buthelezi 6 (Labuschagne 74, 5)

REFEREE: Ben Blain ATTENDANCE: 15,517

Star man

Nick Timoney - Ulster