Ulster 18 Clubs fell to an agonising defeat to the hands of Connacht on Saturday afternoon at Affidea Stadium in their final PwC Interprovincial Championship match.
The province was leading going into the final minutes, but it was Connacht who claimed the win thanks to Rion Gill’s late try.
Ulster looked to had done enough for the win when Niall Kelly dived over under the posts on the hour mark, but unfortunately for Paddy Browne’s team, it was the visitors who grabbed the win near the death.
Ulster opened the scoring after just 5 minutes.
Ayrton Pienaar ran hard and fast into the Connacht 22, before a high tackle unduly stopped him in his tracks.
Joel Clarke kicked the penalty into the corner, and from the lineout there was no stopping the Ulster maul with captain Corbin Marsden getting the all-important touchdown.
Clarke’s conversion helped ulster to a 7-0 lead.
Connacht went on to dominate territory and possession, but following a heavy downpour just before kick-off, both sides struggled to get any momentum into their play following a series of dropped balls.
Connacht brought themselves back into the game in the 17th minute when Eoin Gannon’s off-load was picked up by Rory Burns, leaving the prop with a clear run-in into the corner.
Darragh Murray was off target with the conversion, but he did give Connacht the lead three minutes later when he made the most of a gap in the Ulster defence to slide in for his team’s second try.
The Connacht defence were doing a fine job in keeping the Ulster attack quiet, but on 25 minutes there was nothing they could do with another home maul as Marsden went over for the second time in a replica of his first effort.
The visitors however responded in the best possible fashion.
Connacht wing Tom Smyth collected his own chip before passing to centre Eoin Gannon who galloped down the blindside to put his side into the lead just minutes before the break.
Half-time: Ulster 12-15 Connacht.
Ulster came out with a renewed purpose in the second half and in the opening minutes, Ewan Morrison was under the posts, but unfortunately for the second row, he was held up buy some last-ditch Connacht defending.
But the Ulster didn’t have to wait long to regain the lead. From the restart Ulster launched another assault on the Connacht line and this time there was no denying Joe Bailie from close range.
Fly-half Clarke converted before adding a penalty in the 44th minute to hand ulster a seven-point lead, 22-15.
But again, Connacht replied swiftly with replacement scrum-half Eoin Healy going over from close range.
With 10 minutes to play, the pendulum swung back in Ulster’s favour when winger Kelly came in-field and picked off a pass from Connacht fly-half Murray before racing unopposed from halfway to score under the posts.
Clarke’s conversion handed Ulster a nine-point advantage going into the home straight, but in true fashion, Connacht came roaring back.
On a penalty advantage, Connacht fly-half Murray’s Crossfield kick found Gannon who touched down for his second try to set-up a grandstand finish.
Energised by Murray’s score, Connacht went back on the hunt and with minutes remaining, Gill managed to storm his way over for the winning try.
Josh Keane added the extras which was quickly followed by the referee’s full-time whistle.
Full-time: Ulster 29-32 Connacht
Scorers:
Ulster:
Tries: Marsden (2), Bailie, Kelly
Cons: Clarke (3)
Pens: Clarke
Connacht:
Tries: Burns, Murray, Gannon (2), Healy, Gill
Cons: Keane,
Teams:
Ulster: 15. Reuben Nicholl, 14. Niall Kelly, 13. Isaac Neil, 12. Ayrton Pienaar, 11. Jacob Ennis-McManus, 10. Joel Clarke, 9. Freddy Harris, 1. Joe Bailie, 2 Corbin Marsden (C), 3. Ben Ledlie, 4. Ewan Morrison, 5. James Fullerton, 6. Matthew Laird, 7. Logan Cooke, 8. Joe Rice D’Cruze.
Replacements: 16. Joel Morrison, 17. Aydan Byrne, 18. Ryan Mitchell, 19. Alexander Courtney, 20. Alfie Lucy, 21. Jed Poutney, 22. Rhys Johnston, 23. Evan Prior.
Connacht: 15. Cian Silke, 14. Mirran Saman, 13. Eoin Gannon, 12. David Walsh, 11. Tom Smyth, 10. Darragh Murray, 9. Liam Gillard, 1. Rory Burns, 2. Jude Kennedy, 3. Aengus Langan (C), 4. Joe McSharry, 5. Sean O’Hara, 6. Aron Martin, 7. Oisin O’Connor, 8. Krystian Kopczynski.
Replacements: 16 Rion Gill, 17. Peter Daniel Sunny, 18. Julien Flynn, 19. Theo Gately, 20. Eoin Healy, 21. Liam Cadden, 22. Darragh Kelly, 23. Josh Keane.