Reds fall short as Ulster hold firm
MUNSTER’S second-half comeback was not enough as provincial rivals Ulster notched their first win at Thomond Park since May 2014. Dan McFarland’s men did all their scoring in the first half, James Hume tagging a late score onto maul tries from Jordi Murphy and Tom Stewart for a 15-3 lead.
Munster had produced a disjointed performance up to that point, but they absorbed Malakai Fekitoa’s sin-binning and Jack Crowley took his tally to three penalties.
Crucially, the post prevented the Munster fly-half from converting Shane Daly’s 66thminute score and the hosts were unable to avoid their fifth successive interprovincial defeat – and third of the current season.
Munster’s next appointment is a tour game against South Africa A at a sold-out Páirc Uí Chaoimh on November 10 before the URC campaign resumes after the Autumn Series games when they host Connacht on November 26.
Connacht were in Swansea, where they bounced back from a nightmare start to beat Ospreys 22-19 and record their third win in seven games in the URC.
The western province gave up a couple of early tries to go 12 points down after just eight minutes. However, Jack Carty converted tries from Alex Wootton and Caolin Blade to give them a 14-12 half-time lead. John Porch got their third shortly after half-time and a Carty drop goal stretched their lead to 10 points. Ospreys did grab a third try with 10 minutes left, but Connacht held on for the victory.