Despite coming up against a formidable pack in visiting Munster tonight at Ravenhill, Ulster had the poise and power to topple the league leaders in a fiery interprovincial clash, with the exceptional Ruan Pienaar landing 19 points from the boot.
Tries from Jared Payne and Darren Cave in a first half which Ulster dominated from start to finish, complemented by stubborn defence in the final quarter and pinpoint kicking throughout from Pienaar, saw Mark Anscombe’s side through although the visitors registered three tries of their own – two courtesy of the sheer power of their combative forward line.
A fine inside run from Andrew Trimble after several minutes of aerial ball crafted Ulster their first opportunity, eventually leading to the award of a penalty which Pienaar dispatched from 35 metres. Another high take from Trimble moments later – aided by the returning Chris Henry – set the next Ulster move in motion, and with Munster pulled up for an obstruction on Craig Gilroy as he beared down on Paddy Jackson’s kick towards the line, Ulster kicked their second penalty to touch.
A strong lineout, quick recycling and a smart dink from Jackson found Payne just beyond the try-line, and the full-back, who had come so close to touching down a bobbling ball six days earlier against Leinster, made sure to time his dive to perfection and ground with both hands. Pienaar converted to establish a 10-point lead on six minutes.
After a centrally-placed Ian Keatley penalty had veered wide of the posts, a Munster offside just shy of halfway gave Pienaar the chance to test his range, and the Springbok impressed with a beautifully-weighted kick directed squarely between the posts. Keatley should have clawed three back on 20 minutes, but failed to apply sufficient curve to his kick from the left flank, and the Munster scorecard remained void.
Quickfire passing from Ulster in their very next move got their forwards to the brink of the Munster ‘22’ until a powerhouse tackle from Dave Kilcoyne knocked the ball from the hands of Tom Court, but the hosts kept their foot firmly on the throttle and Robbie Diack threatened twice down the right wing just either side of the 30-minute mark.
Three further chances followed hot on the trail: firstly a sublime 60-metre surge through the middle from Trimble after picking up a poor Munster clearance promised much until the ball’s eventual recipient Luke Marshall got crowded out by the left-hand corner flag; then John Afoa’s foot just strayed into touch on the opposite flank as he moved to land Pienaar’s short pass from a ruck.
It was the third opportunity which counted, however, and as has been the case so often this season, the talismanic Payne was once again the architect, as he ripped the Munster defence asunder with a diagonal 40-metre surge, then supplied Trimble who cut inside and offloaded to Cave under a tandem of tackles for the centre to score.
Pienaar converted once more and, although Ivan Dineen pulled five points back on the stroke of half-time with a well-engineered try, Ulster’s dominance was in no doubt – and indeed they could have been running off a further 10 points ahead had they enjoyed a little more good fortune.
Half-Time Score Ulster 20 Munster 5
The second period was an altogether different affair, as Munster began to move the ball with greater fluency and apply extreme pressure through their forwards. However, Keatley’s dismal run of kicks continued as the half opened, his 42nd-minute penalty from distance rebounding to safety off the left-hand upright.
Nevertheless, Munster had now found their feet in the game, and bullish mauling from their forwards was rewarded on 48 minutes with a try touched down by Kilcoyne, and converted by Keatley’s first successful kick from five.
With Munster penalised for popping up at the scrum seven minutes later, Pienaar suffered his first misfire of the night from wide on the right, but strong ball-carrying from the in-form Cave got Ulster right back into the danger zone on the hour mark, and Munster got off somewhat lightly with the concession of only three points at the end of the attack, as Pienaar slotted home a simple penalty from the ‘22’.
The Munster forwards flexed their muscles again on 65 minutes, James Coughlan landing the try after more powerful mauling from the lineout, and Keatley converting again to bring his side within four points.
Pienaar re-extended the gap to seven with 10 minutes remaining after a Munster hand in the ruck, and as the visitors pounded the home defence in pursuit of the game in the closing minutes, each and every Ulsterman stood up to resist the onslaught and see through the result.
The excitement endured until the last minute, with Paul O’Connell sinbinned for infringing at the ruck, and Pienaar slotting home his fifth penalty to secure the victory, thereby depriving Munster of what would have been a hard-fought and valuable bonus point. Ulster now sit in third place in the RaboDirect Pro 12, six points behind their interprovincial rivals, and two short of the Ospreys.
Full-Time Score Ulster 29 Munster 19
Ulster (15-9): J Payne; A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; (1-8) T Court, R Herring, J Afoa, I Henderson, D Tuohy, R Diack (c), C Henry, R Wilson
Replacements (16-23): N Annett, C Black, D Fitzpatrick, L Stevenson, N Williams, S Doyle, P Marshall, M Allen
Munster (15-9): F Jones; R O’Mahony, C Lualua, I Dineen, A Conway; I Keatley, C Sheridan; (1-8) D Kilcoyne, D Varley, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, P O’Mahony (c), T O’Donnell, J Coughlan
Replacements (16-23): D Casey, J Ryan, BJ Botha, D Foley, CJ Stander, D Williams, J Holland, J Murphy