Munster kick themselves into a corner

Celtic League/ Munster 17 Ulster 20: The debate raged into the night and Munster can only hope it isn't revived at the end of the season. In opting to decline an equalising three points by going to the corner from a penalty in injury time on Saturday, Munster came up short and suffered their first defeat in 19 home games.

The net result is that their lead in the Celtic league table over Ulster has been cut to two points. Had they gone for the draw and O'Gara kicked the penalty, about 15 metres in from the left touchline, that lead would instead have remained at five points.

But for much of the night the onfield Munster brains trust - presumably Anthony Foley and O'Gara would have been the chief decision-makers - weren't of a mind to play the percentages. In a fired-up but unproductive opening salvo, they twice spurned three-pointers in going to the corner and, like a gambler chasing his losses, thereafter Munster felt almost compelled to keep raising the stakes.

In contrast, Ulster took almost every one of their chances, save for one missed drop goal in the opening play and a wayward penalty by David Humphreys, to stun crowd and home team alike by taking a 20-3 lead. Perhaps it affected Munster's thinking.

Two minutes before half-time Justin Harrison was yellow carded by the ever-excellent Alain Rolland for gratuitously dumping O'Gara - Donncha O'Callaghan leading the charge for the night's biggest bust-up - but 40 metres out the outhalf chose to tap and go himself long after Ulster had lined up. Three scores down, that looked the most foolhardy decision of all.

All told, Munster declined at least seven three-pointers, though the call for a scrum against opponents reduced to 13 men when Isaac Boss was binned seven minutes after the restart was entirely understandable.

The Kiwi scrumhalf blatantly killed the ball under the posts and his laughable plea - "I'm only just on" - cut no ice with Rolland.

But David Wallace grounded just short from the scrum and, not realising who was attempting the ensuing pick-up, inadvertently prevented Foley from scoring.

The repeated ploy did reap some reward just past the hour when Jerry Flannery was driven over by his pack after Mick O'Driscoll's take. When Wallace scored from Stringer's popped pass after brilliant counter-attacking by Mossy Lawlor they were within three points.

They had other chances too, notably when Wallace made 50 metres off a turnover and calmly delayed his inside pass to O'Gara, but when he offloaded to Anthony Horgan just short of the line the latter was brilliantly collared by the outstanding Tommy Bowe.

At the death, Ulster having withstood another Munster lineout maul, Trevor Halstead's pass gave Horgan room to attack the corner, but Paul Steinmetz made his tackle and the covering Bryn Cunningham ensured there would be no Munster reprieve.

Such defiance was typical of Ulster on the night, and though Munster forced the pace and their pack threatened to devour Ulster's in the second period, in many respects the visitors deserved their win. For example, Flannery was much more dynamic in the loose than Rory Best, who nevertheless showed up well enough, but not alone did Ulster's scrum force the withdrawal of the unfortunate Frankie Roche inside 32 minutes, Flannery's off-target throws cost Munster half a dozen lineouts.

For all the passion, this typified their lack of precision; amazingly they made 17 handling errors.

Even Marcus Horan caught the bug after his arrival, though he and the tireless Denis Leamy led the second-half charge along with Halstead. The latter, though, was lucky to stay on the pitch after a late, high hit with his shoulder on Humphreys.

Ulster weren't immune from errors themselves, especially in the first half, but stealthily took their chances and in Bowe and Andrew Trimble, tellingly, had far more of a cutting edge.

When Roger Wilson, another to remind of his ability, fielded a box-kick by Stringer, Ulster's backs realigned for Cunningham to break through the middle and chip Manning for Trimble to score his sixth try of the season.

In perhaps the game's pivotal moment, Bowe followed up his try-saving tackle on Horgan when moments later taking a clever line inside Horgan after good hands by Neil McMillan and Rory Best. Humphreys augmented an earlier penalty and both conversions with a towering penalty from inside halfway and although they spent much of the second half on the back foot, there was a resilience about Ulster that deserved reward.

Munster might reflect on why they didn't use more of the pick-and-go drive that led to their first try, but for the most part they attacked through the middle, regularly encountering Kevin Maggs and the backrowers, or out wide, where Bowe executed a host of smart decisions, whether coming in off his wing or covering across. Meanwhile, like a tiger at feeding time, Maggsy licked his chops and devoured anything that came his way.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 12 mins: Humphreys pen 0-3; 12: O'Gara drop goal 3-3; 15: Trimble try, Humphreys con 3-10; 29: Bowe try, Humphreys con 3-17; 37: Humphreys pen 3-20 (half-time 3-20); 62: Flannery try, O'Gara con 10-20; 66: Wallace try, O'Gara con 17-20.

MUNSTER: J Manning; A Pitout, G Connolly, T Halstead, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; F Roche, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; D Leamy, D Wallace, A Foley (capt). Replacements: M Horan for Roche (32 mins), M Lawlor for (51 mins), S Keogh for Wallace (70 mins). Not used: D Fogarty, T Horgan, T O'Leary, B Murphy.

ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, A Trimble, P Steinmetz, K Maggs; D Humphreys, K Campbell; B Young, R Best, S Best (capt); J Harrison, M McCullough; N Best, N McMillan, R Wilson. Replacements: I Boss for Campbell (46 mins), S Ferris for McMillan (66 mins). Not used: R Moore, N Brady, R Caldwell, A Larkin, J Topping. Sinbinned: Harrison (38 mins), Boss (47 mins.

Referee: Alain Rolland (IRFU).