Ulster 58 Connacht 12

By Neil Carnduff Ulster’s prolific backs treated a sold-out Ravenhill to a try bonanza tonight against Connacht, running over eight scores – including a hat-trick for Andrew Trimble – in the best possible response to last week’s bitter Heineken Cup disappointment. Ulster’s prolific backs treated a sold-out Ravenhill to a try bonanza tonight against Connacht, running over eight scores – including a hat-trick for Andrew Trimble – in the best possible response to last week’s bitter Heineken Cup disappointment. Paul Marshall (two), Tommy Bowe, Luke Marshall and Craig Gilroy all joined Trimble on the scoresheet as a rampant Ulster – ostensibly ravaged by injury and suspension – ran riot down the flanks to annihilate the Western province. Depleted through injuries to Ruan Pienaar, Rory Best, Dan Tuohy, John Afoa, Callum Black and Roger Wilson – on top of Jared Payne’s suspension – Ulster lined up with Ricky Andrew at full-back, Bowe in the centre, Paul Marshall at scrum-half, and Andrew Warwick making his first ever senior start at loose-head alongside Rob Herring and Ricky Lutton. Iain Henderson slotted in at lock, while Robbie Diack came into the back row. With the Six Nations trophy on display under Best’s stewardship before kick-off, Ulster applied their foot to the gas straight from the off, and only a miscommunication between Paddy Jackson and Luke Marshall prevented the centre from breaking through the spine of the Connacht defence in the second minute, as he knocked on a snapped pass from Jackson which he was barely expecting. The score wasn’t long in coming, however, as the Ulster backs capitalised on an incredibly risky crossfield kick from Dan Parks within his own ‘22’, picking up a bobbling ball and recycling for Paul Marshall to stretch over in the corner. Jackson’s conversion missed, and within moments Connacht were back on terms as they outnumbered Ulster on the left wing, and Dave McSharry eluded Andrew to ground by the corner flag. Jackson topped up the Ulster tally from a good 40 metres with a 12^th-minute penalty, and alert thinking from Chris Henry, who scooped a loose ball backwards on half-way, set the next attack in motion, with great feet from both Gilroy and Bowe propelling Ulster into the ‘22’, where Trimble had the legs to outstrip two chasers down the touchline for try number two. The score went unconverted once more, but Ulster, with Sean Doyle now among the ranks after an early ankle injury to Diack, continued to press high up the pitch, and constructed a sublime third try on 22 minutes, Trimble carving up the Connacht defence with a diagonal run from right to left, and supplying Bowe 10 metres from home. Jackson converted off the left upright, and added a further two points three minutes later as Ulster rampaged their way to the bonus point, with Trimble once more instrumental in the score. Astute improvisation saw the winger loft a quick lineout ball straight into the clutches of Paul Marshall, who scampered his way to the whitewash through a sparsely-populated and somewhat unsuspecting Connacht defence. Under the watchful eye of his international coach Joe Schmidt, Jackson then added a further three points just before the break, sending his side off 25 points to the good. Half-Time Score Ulster 30 Connacht 5 The second period continued in the same vein as the first, as Bowe latched onto a dropped ball as Connacht probed deep down Ulster’s right-hand touchline, then fed Trimble, with play still inside the home ‘22’. The Coleraine man set off on a 75-metre sprint for the line, with Connacht Number Eight Eoin McKeon leading the chase, but never really threatening to catch the Ulster 14 and prevent his brace. The fifth try duly converted, Jackson then combined majestically with Bowe on 47 minutes in a lightning-quick one-two which entirely bamboozled the Connacht defence and created the space for Luke Marshall to land try number six. Jackson kept up his impressive kicking return with the conversion, and another Connacht error – this time an overthrow at the line-out – eventually led to the temporary dismissal of replacement second row Michael Swift, after repeated infringements from the visitors as they desperately battled to defend their line. Three lineouts and a scrum later, replacement scrum-half Michael Heaney supplied Trimble with good hooked ball and a short run-in for his hat-trick, topped up again by Jackson’s boot. Although Darragh Leader grabbed a converted consolation try on 62 minutes, Gilroy – thitherto conspicuous by his absence from the scoresheet – did well to pounce on replacement out-half James McKinney’s inviting prodded kick to the corner six minutes later, McKinney then picking up two points of his own with a neat conversion. Ulster closed out the game in a fruitless quest for try number nine, but the bonus-point victory elevates Mark Anscombe’s men to second in the RaboDirect Pro12 standings on 65 points, a strong position with three games left to play. Qualification for the play-offs is  still not guaranteed, however,  as two more crunch interprovincial ties remain – at home to Leinster and away to Munster – after next Friday’s trip to Glasgow. Full-Time Score Ulster 58 Connacht 12 Ulster  (15 – 9) R Andrew; A Trimble, T Bowe, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, P Marshall (1 – 8) A Warwick, R Herring, R Lutton, J Muller (c), I Henderson, R Diack, C Henry, N Williams Replacements (16 – 23) N Annett, T Court, A Macklin, L Stevenson, S Doyle, M Heaney, J McKinney, S McCloskey Connacht (15 – 9) R Henshaw; T O’Halloran, E Griffin, D McSharry, F Carr; D Parks, K Marmion (1 – 8) D Buckley, J Harris-Wright, R Ah You, A Muldowney, M Kearney, J Muldoon (c), E Masterson, E McKeon Replacements (16 – 23) D Heffernan, F Bealham, R Loughney, M Swift, A Browne, F Murphy, M Nikora, D Leader