A youthful Ulster selection pulled off a veritable coup tonight at Thomond Park, vanquishing Paul O’Connell, Simon Zebo et al in a captivating two-point victory as the RaboDirect Pro12 season proper came to a thrilling end.
A youthful Ulster selection pulled off a veritable coup tonight at Thomond Park, vanquishing Paul O’Connell, Simon Zebo et al in a captivating two-point victory as the RaboDirect Pro12 season proper came to a thrilling end.
Ulster will now play a PRO12 play off against Leinster at the RDS next Saturday night with the chance of silverware very much alive.Faultless kicking from James McKinney added 14 points to Michael Heaney’s first-half try as Ulster confirmed their place in next Saturday’s play-off against Leinster at the RDS. Munster will travel to Glasgow on Friday to contest the other semi-final with the Warriors, with a rematch of tonight’s clash in the final on 31 May a possibility.
A substantially different Ulster XV from that which went down so narrowly to Leinster last Friday lined up tonight in Limerick, with Dan Tuohy entrusted the captain’s armband, and an entirely new-look backline with an average age of just under 23, comprising Craig Gilroy at full-back, David McIlwaine and Rory Scholes on the wings, Michael Allen and Stuart McCloskey in the centre, and McKinney and Heaney pairing up at 10 and nine respectively.
Meanwhile, Callum Black, Rob Herring and Andrew Warwick got the nod in the front row, supported by Tuohy and Lewis Stevenson, with Mike McComish and Sean Doyle flanking Nick Williams in the back row. The replacements bench also saw Kyle McCall, Conor Joyce and David Shanahan graduate to first-team contention from the Academy, with prop Bronson Ross returning from long-term injury after his solitary Ulster appearance September last.
Ulster had their work cut out as early as the second minute, Casey Laulala capitalising on a turnover on halfway to dart through a separation in the visitors’ defence and take play to within metres of the Ulster corner flag, where McCloskey did well to bundle the quicksilver Gerhard van der Heever into touch. Misfiring lineouts from both sides followed, before Ian Keatley opened the Munster account on 10 minutes with a neatly chipped penalty.
Laulala and Keatley combined smartly five minutes later to set up the first Munster try, instigating a series of snappy passes to eliminate several Ulstermen on the left wing and liberate scrum-half Duncan Williams to ground in the corner, converted by Keatley.
Not to be outdone, however, Heaney and Allen teamed up just as effectively three minutes later, creating the space for the break with a clever one-two from scrum-half to centre and back again, with Heaney then showing good strength to race for the line and stretch over for his first senior try despite lunging tackles from both Laulala and Felix Jones.
McKinney’s conversion brought Ulster to within three points, and as the half-hour mark approached, the visitors began to enjoy the better part of possession, Allen in particular impressing with a speedy burst from deep which could have proven lucrative had the youngster managed to elude Zebo as he raced over half-way.
Nick Williams succumbed to a knee injury on 33 minutes, replaced by Joyce, before a Munster offside allowed McKinney to restore parity for half-time with a well-struck penalty through the swirling Thomond wind.
Half-Time Score Munster 10 Ulster 10
Ulster’s rich vein of form continued as the second period got underway, controlling play around the Munster 10-metre line for a good five minutes until the home forwards left their feet in the tackle, and McKinney slotted home from distance to give his side the lead for the first time in the contest.
The advantage was to prove ephemeral, however, as flanker Sean Dougall touched down two minutes later with the help of a dinked kick forward from Keatley – and some critical hesitation from the Ulster chasers as the ball bobbled over the try-line. The out-half converted once more, although McKinney clawed a further three points back on 52 minutes with his third penalty of the evening.
Skipper Tuohy exited just before the hour mark – victim of a knee injury like Williams before him – and with Neil McComb now among the ranks, a collapse from the Munster front row at scrum-time saw McKinney restore the Ulster lead from wide on the left on 65 minutes. Then came the inevitable Munster backlash, several minutes of pressure five metres from the Ulster try-line and two hard-fought scrums eventually coming to naught as O’Connell knocked on in front of the posts.
Munster continued to probe but, with a solitary minute remaining on the clock, a last-ditch drop goal attempt from JJ Hanrahan veered wide to seemingly put paid to any hopes of a home smash-and-grab victory.
However, an illegal hand in the scrum from Doyle as the clock turned red gave Hanrahan a final and unexpected chance to turn the tables - but the Munster young player of the year’s aim let him down once more, to seal a famous and fully-deserved victory for Anscombe’s Apprentices.
Full-Time Score Munster 17 Ulster 19
Munster (15 – 9) F Jones; G van den Heever, C Laulala, J Downey, S Zebo; I Keatley, D Williams (1 – 8) D Kilcoyne, D Varley (c), J Ryan, D Foley, P O’Connell , P Butler, S Dougall, J Coughlan
Replacements (16 – 23) Q MacDonald, J Cronin, A Cotter, B Holland, T O’Donnell, C Murray, JJ Hanrahan, K Earls
Ulster (15 – 9) C Gilroy; D McIlwaine, M Allen, S McCloskey, R Scholes; J McKinney, M Heaney (1 – 8) C Black, R Herring, A Warwick, L Stevenson, D Tuohy (c), M McComish, S Doyle, N Williams
Replacements (16 – 23) K McCall, B Ross, A Macklin, N McComb, C Joyce, D Shanahan, R Andrew, P Nelson