Ulster Juniors were edged out by the minimum of margins away to Munster on Saturday, meaning they now sit in second place in the Inter-Provincial series.
Munster Juniors 11 Ulster Juniors 10
Saturday 7th May 2016, Clonakilty RFC
The Ulster squad made the long journey south to Clonakilty to take on Munster in confident mood following their opening weekend bonus point win over Connacht.
Ulster made a fast start in the rain, with Chris Cousens nailing a penalty after 4 minutes to put Ulster 3 points up. Ulster completely dominated the opening exchanges and with huge pressure on Munster, they spilled the ball just inside the Ulster half. It was hacked forward and Andrew Pollock had an early chance to show his blistering pace, outstripping the covering defenders to nudge the ball forward again, gather it and touch down for the first try of the game on 11 minutes. Chris Cousens again converted to give Ulster a 10 point lead. Ulster had a number of further opportunities to build on their lead with the breeze at their backs, with Pollock coming close to a repeat of his opening score, Munster just being saved by their number 8 scrambling to the ball on the floor before Pollock could chip the ball forward again for a certain score. Following a number of unforced errors and the odd poor decision, Munster prevented Ulster from scoring again.
Half-time score: Munster 0 Ulster 10.
The Munster fly half put a penalty over after 46 minutes to put their first points on the board, 3-10. Ulster created a couple of opportunities at the start of the second half but a couple of inaccuracies combined with one or two calls from the referee stopped Ulster in their tracks. Relieving the pressure on Munster and allowing them not only to clear their lines but also start to build pressure on the Ulster line. Munster’s tactics were very clear, just like their senior team, they scrummaged to win penalties which they then kicked down the line, to catch and drive. Ulster were on the attack close to the Munster line when a pass from an Ulster player was slapped down by a Munster forward and found its way immediately back to the Ulsterman. The referee penalised him for playing the ball on the ground. From this penalty, Munster cleared their lines, caught and drove the resultant lineout. The referee then adjudged that an Ulster player had entered the maul from the side and awarded the home team another penalty. The Munster fly half Lillis, then kicked this into the Ulster 22. Munster repeated the dose of the catch and drive, eventually muscling their way over for the try, which went unconverted, making the score 8-10 to Ulster after 63 minutes.
From the restart, Ulster managed to win a penalty just inside the Munster half. Cousens stepped up from long range into the wind and saw his effort drift agonisingly wide of the left hand post. Following the 22 drop out, another couple of Ulster errors, summed up the game from Ulster’s point of view. Munster managed to get themselves into a position where there had a scrum on the 22 in front of the Ulster posts. With their scrum dominating for much of the 2nd half, they were only ever going to try and squeeze a penalty out of the referee, who duly obliged and also sin-binned Ulster prop Chris Nash. Lillis converted the 3 point effort to give Munster the lead on 67 minutes for the first time. Ulster rallied well in the last 10 minutes but it was a tough ask, along with being down to 14 men. They just couldn’t break the shackles and make the all important line break from their own half.
Full-time score: Munster 11 Ulster 10.
Munster Juniors 11 Ulster Juniors 10
Saturday 7th May 2016, Clonakilty RFC
The Ulster squad made the long journey south to Clonakilty to take on Munster in confident mood following their opening weekend bonus point win over Connacht.
Ulster made a fast start in the rain, with Chris Cousens nailing a penalty after 4 minutes to put Ulster 3 points up. Ulster completely dominated the opening exchanges and with huge pressure on Munster, they spilled the ball just inside the Ulster half. It was hacked forward and Andrew Pollock had an early chance to show his blistering pace, outstripping the covering defenders to nudge the ball forward again, gather it and touch down for the first try of the game on 11 minutes. Chris Cousens again converted to give Ulster a 10 point lead. Ulster had a number of further opportunities to build on their lead with the breeze at their backs, with Pollock coming close to a repeat of his opening score, Munster just being saved by their number 8 scrambling to the ball on the floor before Pollock could chip the ball forward again for a certain score. Following a number of unforced errors and the odd poor decision, Munster prevented Ulster from scoring again.
Half-time score: Munster 0 Ulster 10.
The Munster fly half put a penalty over after 46 minutes to put their first points on the board, 3-10. Ulster created a couple of opportunities at the start of the second half but a couple of inaccuracies combined with one or two calls from the referee stopped Ulster in their tracks. Relieving the pressure on Munster and allowing them not only to clear their lines but also start to build pressure on the Ulster line. Munster’s tactics were very clear, just like their senior team, they scrummaged to win penalties which they then kicked down the line, to catch and drive. Ulster were on the attack close to the Munster line when a pass from an Ulster player was slapped down by a Munster forward and found its way immediately back to the Ulsterman. The referee penalised him for playing the ball on the ground. From this penalty, Munster cleared their lines, caught and drove the resultant lineout. The referee then adjudged that an Ulster player had entered the maul from the side and awarded the home team another penalty. The Munster fly half Lillis, then kicked this into the Ulster 22. Munster repeated the dose of the catch and drive, eventually muscling their way over for the try, which went unconverted, making the score 8-10 to Ulster after 63 minutes.
From the restart, Ulster managed to win a penalty just inside the Munster half. Cousens stepped up from long range into the wind and saw his effort drift agonisingly wide of the left hand post. Following the 22 drop out, another couple of Ulster errors, summed up the game from Ulster’s point of view. Munster managed to get themselves into a position where there had a scrum on the 22 in front of the Ulster posts. With their scrum dominating for much of the 2nd half, they were only ever going to try and squeeze a penalty out of the referee, who duly obliged and also sin-binned Ulster prop Chris Nash. Lillis converted the 3 point effort to give Munster the lead on 67 minutes for the first time. Ulster rallied well in the last 10 minutes but it was a tough ask, along with being down to 14 men. They just couldn’t break the shackles and make the all important line break from their own half.
Full-time score: Munster 11 Ulster 10.