Ulster 38 Munster 17

Ulster marked their first game of 2020 with a resounding bonus-point victory against Inter-provincial rivals, Munster in another raucous sold-out fixture at Kingspan Stadium. Scores from John Cooney, Robert Baloucoune, Matthew Rea, Man-of-the-Match Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale, with another 13 points off the boot of Cooney, strengthened Ulster’s position in second place of Conference A in the Guinness PRO14. Irish Internationals, Iain Henderson and Jacob Stockdale were two of three changes to the starting XV that defeated Connacht 35-3 the previous week. In the backline, Stockdale was the only amendment, coming in to start on the left wing with Will Addison and Robert Baloucoune retaining their positions at full-back and on the right wing respectively. The centre and half-back pairings of Stuart McCloskey and Luke Marshall, Billy Burns and John Cooney retained their starting berths. Jack McGrath, Robert Herring and Marty Moore made up the starting front row. Iain Henderson resumed the captaincy and partnered Alan O’Connor in the second row. Nick Timoney returned to the side, starting at number eight alongside Matthew Rea at blindside and Sean Reidy at openside, completing the starting back row. Ulster had much of the territory in the opening few minutes of the game, looking to test Munster in the air and out wide. Some crisp passing from Ulster and a grubber kick behind the Munster defence from Luke Marshall keeping the visitors pinned back inside their 22.  A thunderous run from Jack McGrath soon followed, but unfortunately went unrewarded as Munster were wise at the breakdown, forcing a penalty and relieving the pressure. The first points of the game, however, went to the men in red, when Conor Murray darted out from the back of a Munster scrum, going through the hands to Joey Carbery, who sent full-back Shane Daly bundling over the line. Carbery added the extras. Ulster soon replied through Iain Henderson going in over a Munster ball in the ruck, forcing a penalty. John Cooney stepped up and was on-target for the three points. The hosts showed their potency in attack, with a great high take from Will Addison and a magnificent break from Jacob Stockdale tearing down the left wing. John Cooney was the grateful recipient of Stockdale’s pass and darted past the bamboozled Munster defence, making a wonderful finish under the posts. Cooney also had the honours of converting his own try. Ulster continued to test Munster, getting the upper hand in the scrum and Cooney dangerous off the back of it. Will Addison looked set to score but in Munster’s red zone, the ball just slipped his grasp, giving the visitors some breathing space. Ulster spent much of the second quarter camped outside Munster’s try line. Jeremy Loughman was penalised for a high tackle on Nick Timoney, and Ulster stated their intention by kicking to touch for an attacking line-out. Further ill-discipline from Rory Scannell and Conor Murray led to another penalty; Ulster choosing to go for another scrum in a promising position. A massive John Cooney pass reached Luke Marshall, who set up Robert Baloucoune for Ulster’s second try. The outstanding Cooney made no mistake with the conversion. At the stroke of half-time, Munster were given an opportunity to narrow Ulster’s lead when Iain Henderson tried to compete for Munster’s ball in the ruck, but referee Dan Jones felt he did so illegally. The visitors opted to go for the posts, and Carbery was on-target. Half-time score: Ulster 17 Munster 10 Ulster started the second half as strongly as they finished the first, winning another penalty and subsequent line-out. Matty Rea ran a beautiful line off Stuart McCloskey, finding his way through a gap and went over for Ulster’s third try. Cooney was accurate with the extras once again. The opportunity for Ulster’s fourth try went begging after a Nick Timoney break and Robert Baloucoune burst down the wing, but Baloucoune’s offload went loose just outside Munster’s try line. Munster then went on the charge, going through the phases, but they couldn’t find a way through, and a huge hit from Marty Moore on Gavin Coombes caused the Munster replacement back-rower to knock-on in a promising position. Ulster started to turn the screw, when Dan Goggin collected a high ball but a perfectly-timed tackle by Nick Timoney caused Munster to get blown up for not releasing. The men in white patiently went through the phases and Stuart McCloskey bludgeoned his way over for the bonus-point try in the 58th minute. Cooney maintained his record off the tee, adding the two. Munster tried to ask questions of Ulster’s defence, with a break from full-back, Shane Daly, but Jacob Stockdale expertly picked out a Joey Carbery pass for the intercept, and with nobody to catch him, he ran in under the posts. Cooney once again made the conversion. Munster and Dan Goggin thought they had soon responded as he attempted to catch a cross-field kick but knocked on in the process. It wasn’t long before they rectified this through a Niall Scannell punch through off a rolling maul. Carbery’s conversion just went in off the posts to narrow the deficit. The visitors continued to apply pressure, as a series of Ulster infringements kept them pinned back through the boot of Carbery, but the hosts’ defence was resolute, putting in some fierce tackles and devastating line speed. In the final few minutes of the game, two yellow cards were issued in quick succession to Munster’s Chris Cloete and Ulster’s Kyle McCall, as discipline began to falter on both sides. The scoreboard remained unchanged, however, and Ulster took the maximum five points, bringing their Conference A tally to 36 points. Full-time score: Ulster 38 Munster 17   Ulster: (15-9) Will Addison, Robert Baloucoune, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney. (1-8) Jack McGrath, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Alan O'Connor, Iain Henderson (Capt.), Matthew Rea, Sean Reidy, Nick Timoney. Replacements: John Andrew, Kyle McCall, Tom O'Toole, David O'Connor, Greg Jones, David Shanahan, Angus Kernohan, Craig Gilroy. Munster: (15-9) Shane Daly; Andrew Conway, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray. (1-8) Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Keynan Knox; Fineen Wycherley, Darren O’Shea; Peter O’Mahony (C), Jack O’Donoghue, Arno Botha. Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Dave Kilcoyne, John Ryan, Gavin Coombes, Jack O’Sullivan, Neil Cronin, Dan Goggin, Chris Cloete. Referee:  Dan Jones (WRU, 29th Championship appearance)