Ulster suffered more interprovincial woe tonight at the Kingspan Stadium as Connacht took full advantage of a second-half one-man advantage to close out their first victory in Belfast since 1960.
Matthew Rea got his marching orders twenty seconds into the second period for a dangerous aerial collision in an incident reminiscent of Jared Payne’s infamous Heineken Cup expulsion, and with Ulster already trailing 5 – 14 at the time, the task proved too much for the remaining 14 men.
Tries from the returning Jacob Stockdale and Nick Timoney, plus five points from John Cooney’s boot, edged Ulster a losing bonus point, but the series of a draw and two defeats in their three previous fixtures is far from the ideal preparation for the province’s first European clash of the season, next Saturday against the Leicester Tigers.
Although still severely depleted by injury, the Ulster starting XV was bolstered by the return of two key names – hooker Rory Best and wing Stockdale – both of whom made their first appearance of the season after recovering from hamstring complaints. Included also were lock Iain Henderson and scrum-half Cooney, despite their early exits from the Munster fixture with minor head injuries.
Elsewhere Ulster lined up with Peter Nelson at full-back behind wings Stockdale and Angus Kernohan, centres Angus Curtis and Stuart McCloskey, and out-half Billy Burns. Props Andrew Warwick and Tom O’Toole packed down either side of skipper Best, with Alan O’Connor partnering Henderson in the engine room, and back row of flankers Rea and Timoney, and Number Eight Marcell Coetzee.
Quite how Ulster ran off at the end of an open and pulsating first half nine points adrift is difficult to fathom.
The tie almost got off to the best imaginable start for Stockdale, with the winger only just nudged out of play by the left-hand corner flag mere inches from the try-line.
However a smart dummy from his opposite number Matt Healy in the visitors’ very first attack seconds later proved much more lucrative, creating the space for full-back Tiernan O’Halloran to dart over for the try.
Worse still came on 20 minutes, referee Andrew Brace awarding Connacht a penalty try after three successive infringements at a five-metre scrum.
The Ulster response was not long in coming. Stockdale’s try on 24 minutes may have had an element of luck about it as Ulster were fortunate not to lose possession in the build-up, but there was no questioning the winger’s precision as he acrobatically pounced onto Burns’s searching kick to touch down just within the confines of the field of play.
A disallowed Kernohan try on 27 minutes – ruled out for offside in the build-up – did nothing to dampen Ulster spirits, although the Kingspan crowd may have begun to wonder if the fates were conspiring against them when a Nelson touchdown three minutes later was similarly overruled, with the full-back adjudged to be ahead of Stockdale as the winger kicked for the line.
An action-packed first period came to an end with more bad news for Ulster, with Coetzee fairly sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on replacement back Kyle Godwin.
Half-Time Score: Ulster 5 Connacht 14
Ulster’s task became all the more Herculean within 20 seconds of the restart, with Rea red-carded for dangerous play after an aerial collision with Cian Kelleher which saw the Connachtman spiral through the air and land awkwardly.
Thankfully Kelleher was unhurt and able to continue, and to their credit Ulster dug in with no further concessions until Coetzee retook the field on 50 minutes. Indeed the hosts were next on the scoresheet, Cooney stroking over the second of two long-range penalties on 52 minutes to reduce the gap to six points.
As the match passed the hour mark Connacht began to exploit the space afforded them by their numerical advantage, but the next score would not come, and Ulster remained within a converted try of an unlikely victory until the 68th minute, when out-half Jack Carty wisely opted for the posts with a penalty from 30 metres.
Undeterred, Ulster pushed on, but after a promising driving maul had come to naught, any hopes of another dramatic Kingspan comeback evaporated into thin air when Bundee Aki latched onto a careless pass from replacement Johnny McPhillips and ran in unopposed from half-way.
Timoney’s breakaway try on the stroke of full-time gave Ulster the consolation of the losing bonus point, but the defeat sees them slump to third in the Guinness Pro14 Conference B standings.
Full-Time Score: Ulster 15 Connacht 22
Elsewhere Ulster lined up with Peter Nelson at full-back behind wings Stockdale and Angus Kernohan, centres Angus Curtis and Stuart McCloskey, and out-half Billy Burns. Props Andrew Warwick and Tom O’Toole packed down either side of skipper Best, with Alan O’Connor partnering Henderson in the engine room, and back row of flankers Rea and Timoney, and Number Eight Marcell Coetzee.
Quite how Ulster ran off at the end of an open and pulsating first half nine points adrift is difficult to fathom.
The tie almost got off to the best imaginable start for Stockdale, with the winger only just nudged out of play by the left-hand corner flag mere inches from the try-line.
However a smart dummy from his opposite number Matt Healy in the visitors’ very first attack seconds later proved much more lucrative, creating the space for full-back Tiernan O’Halloran to dart over for the try.
Worse still came on 20 minutes, referee Andrew Brace awarding Connacht a penalty try after three successive infringements at a five-metre scrum.
The Ulster response was not long in coming. Stockdale’s try on 24 minutes may have had an element of luck about it as Ulster were fortunate not to lose possession in the build-up, but there was no questioning the winger’s precision as he acrobatically pounced onto Burns’s searching kick to touch down just within the confines of the field of play.
A disallowed Kernohan try on 27 minutes – ruled out for offside in the build-up – did nothing to dampen Ulster spirits, although the Kingspan crowd may have begun to wonder if the fates were conspiring against them when a Nelson touchdown three minutes later was similarly overruled, with the full-back adjudged to be ahead of Stockdale as the winger kicked for the line.
An action-packed first period came to an end with more bad news for Ulster, with Coetzee fairly sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on replacement back Kyle Godwin.
Half-Time Score: Ulster 5 Connacht 14
Ulster’s task became all the more Herculean within 20 seconds of the restart, with Rea red-carded for dangerous play after an aerial collision with Cian Kelleher which saw the Connachtman spiral through the air and land awkwardly.
Thankfully Kelleher was unhurt and able to continue, and to their credit Ulster dug in with no further concessions until Coetzee retook the field on 50 minutes. Indeed the hosts were next on the scoresheet, Cooney stroking over the second of two long-range penalties on 52 minutes to reduce the gap to six points.
As the match passed the hour mark Connacht began to exploit the space afforded them by their numerical advantage, but the next score would not come, and Ulster remained within a converted try of an unlikely victory until the 68th minute, when out-half Jack Carty wisely opted for the posts with a penalty from 30 metres.
Undeterred, Ulster pushed on, but after a promising driving maul had come to naught, any hopes of another dramatic Kingspan comeback evaporated into thin air when Bundee Aki latched onto a careless pass from replacement Johnny McPhillips and ran in unopposed from half-way.
Timoney’s breakaway try on the stroke of full-time gave Ulster the consolation of the losing bonus point, but the defeat sees them slump to third in the Guinness Pro14 Conference B standings.
Full-Time Score: Ulster 15 Connacht 22