Ulster Juniors 31 Munster Juniors 33

The Ulster Juniors were just edged out by Munster in a thrilling Junior Interprovincial Series Round 2 fixture at Ballyclare RFC on Saturday afternoon. The Ulster men were slow out of the traps and it was Munster who scored first through a Derry O'Connor unconverted try on 2 minutes. Ulster skipper Cory Tipping got his side off the mark on 10 minutes. Ulster dominated a 5 metre scrum on the Munster line and were awarded a penalty. Scrum half Lee Steenson took a quick tap, beating the first defender and offloaded to Tipping who crashed over. Steenson then added the extra 2 points from the conversion. Munster then ran in three tries on 22 minutes (Ben Ridgeway), 30 minutes (Olan Crowley) and 35 minutes (Crowley), with two of them being converted to give the away side a 7-24 lead at the interval. Within 5 minutes of the restart, Ulster had reduced the deficit to just three points. Firstly, on 42 minutes, after some great build up play, No. 8 Connor McKee hit a great line, bursting through a couple of tackles to score, with Steenson converting. 3 minutes later, Munster came back strongly and put a great deal of pressure on Ulster in their 22, only for Jonny Hyndman to intercept the ball and go the length, scoring under the posts, with Steenson adding the elementary conversion. The sides then traded penalties with Ben Ridgeway slotting two goal kicks either side of a Steenson 3 pointer. With one minute left on the clock and Ulster going through multiple phases, Robbie Reid managed to step his way through the defence and score to the left of the posts. Steenson converted to make it 31-30, but the referee said there was still time for one last play. Munster regathered the ball from a short restart, worked it through 5 phases as their No. 10 Ridgeway dropped back into the pocket and hit a drop goal into the wind from near the 10 metre line to win it 31-33. Ulster Juniors team: 1 Gavin Warrington – Enniskillen RFC 2 Matthew Coulter – Ballyclare RFC 3 Gareth Beatty – Enniskillen RFC 4 Ross Bingham – Dromore RFC 5 Cory Tipping – CIYMS RFC (Captain) 6 Ben Heath – Dromore RFC 7 Jordan Taylor – Portadown RFC 8 Connor McKee – Grosvenor RFC 9 Lee Steenson – Dromore RFC 10 Johnny Hyndman – Ballymoney RFC 11 Tom Caesar – Portadown RFC 12 Robbie Reid – Ballyclare RFC 13 Joel McBride – Ballyclare RFC 14 Owen Kirk – Ballyclare RFC 15 Paul Armstrong – Clogher Valley RFC Replacements: 16 Alan Whitley – Carrick RFC 17 Cathal McNally – Newry RFC 18 Paul Greenaway – Carrick RFC 19 Timmy Woods – Ballymoney RFC 20 Stuart Simpson – Limavady RFC 21 Connor Cambridge – Carrick RFC 22 Gary Clotworthy – Ballyclare RFC 23 Michael Kirk – Ballyclare RFC Management Team: Head Coach: Richard Boyd Assistant Coach: Graeme Eastwood Team Manager: Colin Hunter Kit Manager: Billy Savage Physio: Katie Barnard Video Analyst: Alross Alejo 2019 Junior Interprovincial Series Fixtures: Round 1 (Saturday 27th April): Connacht Juniors 20 Ulster Juniors 34 Munster Juniors 13 Leinster Juniors 19 Round 2 (Saturday 4th May): Leinster Juniors 31 Connacht Juniors 33 Ulster Juniors 31 Munster Juniors 33 Round 3 (Saturday 11th May): Connacht Juniors v Munster Juniors Leinster Juniors v Ulster Juniors