Ulster’s Firepower Too Much for Connacht in Season Opener
Ulster 36 Connacht 10
Ulster scorers
Tries: Marshall, Stewart, Doak, Moore, Reid
Conversions: Doak (4/5)
Penalties: Doak (1/1)
Connacht scorers
Tries: Blade
Conversions: Hawkshaw (1/1)
Penalties: Fitzgerald (1/1)
at Kingspan Stadium
Ulster kicked off their BKT United Rugby Championship campaign with a bonus point win over their provincial rivals, Connacht, in Belfast on Saturday night.
With both sides afflicted by early season rustiness, it was ultimately the hosts who managed to click into gear and dominate in terms of territory and possession, chalking up five tries to the visitors’ one.
The opening exchanges were marked by a lack of composure, with handling errors and infringements costing both sides at key moments. Ulster looked the more likely of the two sides to break the deadlock, with an incisive line-break by Luke Marshall and glimpses of Stockdale’s dynamism keeping fans on the edge of their seats in a disjointed first quarter.
Fans would have to wait until just before the half-hour mark for the first points of the game. McCloskey was the architect, supplied by Doak off the back of a rolling maul. McCloskey drew two defenders before executing a beautiful one-handed offload, allowing his midfield partner, Luke Marshall, to dot the ball down casually behind the posts. Doak added the conversion.
Ulster doubled their lead just before the second half, again stemming from an effective rolling maul. Tom Stewart, on his maiden competitive start for Ulster, burst off the back of a maul and powered over the line unopposed. Scrum-half Doak, again, adding the extras.
The visitors responded minutes later with the last action of the first half – a penalty from out-half Conor Fitzgerald to reduce the deficit, making it 14-3 at half-time.
Ill-discipline from Connacht early in the second half was punished with a successful penalty from Nathan Doak to add to Ulster’s tally. The momentum was now firmly with Ulster.
In familiar fashion, in the 51st minute, Ulster utilised their impressive line-out and maul to good effect. Stewart yet again tried to barge over from the back of the rolling maul. This time, however, he was stopped just short, but Nathan Doak was on hand to gather the ball and sneak over before converting his own try to make it 24-3.
Connacht continued to struggle to find their rhythm in attack, their best chance coming from a series of attempts to drive over the Ulster line which ultimately resulted in an Ulster turnover.
As the game entered the third quarter, referee Eoghan Cross showed Connacht number 8, Paul Boyle, a yellow card for a series of repeat infringements.
Ulster almost immediately capitalised on their one-man advantage, with Luke Marshall showing his quality with a strong carry and deft hands to unlock the Connacht defence and create space on the wing for Stewart Moore who touched down in the corner for the bonus point try.
Connacht responded in the 70th minute from a well-worked try, created by replacements David Hawkshaw and Oran McNulty with scrum-half Caolin Blade providing the finish. Hawkshaw contributed the additional two points, his first for his new club. At this point in the evening, it was scant consolation for the visitors.
Doak switched to out-half for the last 10 minutes, with Billy Burns making way. With the bench now emptied, Ulster continued to apply pressure and once again found themselves camped on the Connacht line.
Loose-head prop, Callum Reid, managed to burrow over the line to give Ulster their fifth try of the night, with Doak adding two points to cap off an impressive 36-10 victory.
Ulster will now have reason to be optimistic ahead of their clash away to Scarlets next week although, as Ulster head-coach Dan McFarland was quick to point out after the game, Ulster are still a work in progress and there is still plenty of room for improvement in terms of accuracy.
In contrast, Connacht must now dust themselves down and pick up the pieces as they head to South Africa to take on the URC champions Stormers and runners-up Bulls in the next two weeks.
Ulster: S Moore; R Baloucoune (A Sexton 78), L Marshall, S McCloskey (A Curtis 55), J Stockdale; B Burns (D Shanahan 65), N Doak; E O’Sullivan (C Reid 58), T Stewart (J Andrew 61), M Moore (J Toomaga-Allen 65); A O’Connor, S Carter (C Izuchukwu 58); Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, D McCann (J Murphy 58).
Connacht: T O’Halloran (A Wootton 66); B Ralston, T Farrell (Wootton 35-40), T Daly, J Porch; C Fitzgerald (D Hawkshaw 49), K Marmion (C Blade 50); P Dooley (D Buckley 50), D Heffernan (D Tierney-Martin 50), J Aungier (S Illo 57); G Thornbury, L Fifita (N Murray 61); J Murphy, C Oliver (S Hurley-Langton half-time), P Boyle.
Key Takeaways:
Ulster’s Anchor-man
Marty Moore needs to be back in the Ireland set-up. His contribution in an Ulster jersey for the past couple of seasons has been outstanding. Not just for his obvious ability in the scrum – his work around the pitch has improved massively too. He genuinely might be one of Ulster’s most important players and remains an unsung hero. His tackling, his carrying and mobility on Saturday was further evidence that he warrants a second go with Ireland.
Impressive Returnees
How good is it to have Stockdale and Marshall back?! On Saturday it was great to be reminded of glimpses of Stockdale’s ridiculous talent – his monster boot in the first half earned Ulster a 50:22. We also saw him utilise his attacking ability albeit it will take him a while to get fully up to speed – there were a couple of handling errors which are part and parcel of a year out of the game.
Luke Marshall also looks sharp. Given his injury profile, you could be forgiven for forgetting his class. McCloskey and Marshall are a formidable partnership – on Saturday in typical fashion McCloskey drew in defenders and created space for Marshall and the back three. Marshall and McCloskey made a combined 83m and had a tackle success rate of 100%.
Tom Stewart
It almost goes without saying how good Tom Stewart was. As McFarland said, there’s a lot of buzz around him in the Ulster camp. The stats back up his man of the match performance. He made 14 carries for 43m and completed all of his 7 tackles. He also appeared to be everywhere – hitting rucks and generally making a nuisance of himself.
Ball Carriers
My big concern heading into this game was our perceived lack of ball carriers in the pack. In the end, it was the Rea brothers, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom Stewart and Sam Carter (and Izuchukwu off the bench) who shared the load between them. David McCann was solid defensively but only carried 3 times for 0m so this is an area of his game which I am sure he will want to work on. McCann is highly promising but certainly a different proposition to Vermeulen or Timoney. The rest of the pack will need to continue to chip in with carries over the hard yards in the absence of some of our reliable close-quarters carriers.
