:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/TJGSRA6PHNVZMNTGVKIYKBXQAI.jpg)
Ulster 10 Connacht 15
Connacht were both underdone and devoured in a 36-10 defeat on opening night here back in September, but nine months on they stunned the home team and ended Ulster’s season with this stunning URC quarter-final victory, so earning a URC semi-final away to either the Stormers or the Bulls next weekend.
In a game which mixed the ridiculous with the sublime but was never less than absorbing throughout, on the balance of play a fearless but error-prone Connacht deserved to win but then looked like they might have been punished for their lack of execution in the Ulster 22.
On the night Rob Herring drew level with Darren Cave and Andrew Trimble on 229 appearances as Ulster’s most-capped player, this was not how he, Ulster or a big home crowd expected things to unfold.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IMNWKIX5DFFCFE5CD5NLBU6EVY.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/UF3FNXUNXJGLFOQ7ZZHAQQBELU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/DA2ODMX24Y3OJEGZNBOFV6W23A.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QB7622N2JLMO2DW2K5O2GXDAKQ.jpg)
Jacob Stockdale had also led the Ulster team out in recognition of it being his 100th cap for the province, but Connacht withstood a couple of attacks off breakdown penalties and with Caolin Blade varying his options as he picked out his runners, despite some meaty hits the visitors created the first two clear chances.
But first Dave Heffernan knocked on a five-metre penalty, the ensuing afters prompting the game’s first scrap and a curious penalty for Ulster. Then Tom Farrell spun away from Stuart McCloskey after deft passes by Josh Murphy and Finlay Bealham but on drawing Michael Lowry, opted to take the tackle rather than give the supporting Blade a run-in under the posts on his inside. It was a gilt-edged seven points.
Instead, Ulster worked the ball wide to Rob Baloucoune for an outrageous one-handed offload to Herring which led to John Cooney kicking the opening penalty, although despite losing the dangerous Mack Hansen until half-time after an unfortunate clash of heads with John Porch, this was soon cancelled out by Jack Carty’s opening penalty.
Cooney undid another wondrous offload by Baloucoune after his clever support play by diving on Tiernan O’Halloran on the deck as he gathered the ball, and compounded this by conceding 10 metres for dissent.
Shamus Hurley-Langton seemed to be winning turnovers for fun and Connacht kept making line breaks from almost everywhere with their lines of running and offloads, but also mixed the sublime with some ridiculous basic handling errors.
Denis Buckley’s strength over the ball and an important lineout steal by Murphy prevented Ulster from building up a head of steam, and testing kicks in the wider challenges yielded two attacking Connacht penalties. Carty nailed the first but when they went to the corner his attempted no-look pass behind the sweeping Porch didn’t go to hand.
Penalties in quick succession against McCloskey had the home crowd up in arms, and to a chorus of boos Carty ended the first-half with his third penalty to make it 9-3 for Connacht, which in truth should have been much more.
In any case, their famed scrum won a penalty on the Ulster put-in, which Carty nailed via the upright, before Bundee Aki’s jackal penalty had Connacht banging at the Ulster line with one-off runners before McCloskey forced a fumble from Blade.
And after Hurley-Langton was launched off a lineout and both Prendergast and Bealham carried ferociously, Aki had numbers and an option out the back but his flat pass went to ground. Another attack ended with Murray going off his feet. Ulster were living on the edge, with only their defence, and especially maul defence, keeping them in the game.
Cometh the hour, Ulster finally moved up a gear in attack, if only first gear. Stockdale had a run, James Hume started probing before Baloucoune broke Prendergast’s tackle, and Connacht were indebted to Hansen’s covering tackle and ensuing jackal penalty.
But no sooner was Tom Stewart on the pitch than he was doing his unrivalled party trick of springing from the Ulster maul to telling effect. On the second occasion, he scurried to within inches of the line, with O’Connor following to pick up and dive over.
Soon after Baloucoune was beating another three tackles and offloading again, this time to Duane Vermuelen. Replays showed that Hansen had been the last player to play the ball in preventing the Springbok from scoring, so meaning another attacking lineout to Ulster and their potent attacking maul.
The crowd roared expectantly and now it was Connacht’s turn to hang on by their fingernails with some last-ditch defending, as first Aki won a turnover penalty before Jordi Murphy came in from the side to undo another attack.
Against all the game’s momentum now, Kieran Marmion’s introduction proved critical as the long-serving Bristol-bound scrumhalf made a stunning, weaving, side-stepping, fending break up the narrow side. When Burns failed to retreat behind the hindmost foot from an Aki carry off the recycle before playing the ball, Carty made it 15-10.
Now Ulster needed a try, and one last siege which inched ever closer to the Connacht line looked likely to bring it, until Dylan Tierney-Martin won the game’s final turnover at the breakdown. A very fitting end to this game, for if nothing else Andrew Brace had been consistently rewarding the player in the jackal all night.
This sent the men in green and the sizeable Connacht contingent into raptures for what is probably their biggest win since lifting the Pro12 title in the 2016 final against Leinster in Murrayfield.
They’re only one game away from another final now.
Scoring sequence: 21 mins Cooney pen 3-0; 25 mis Carty pen 3-3; 34 mins Carty pen 3-6; 40 (+1) mins Carty pen 3-9; (half-time 3-9); 45 mins Carty pen 3-12; 64 mins O’Connor try, Cooney con 10-12; 76 mins Carty pen 10-15.
ULSTER: Mike Lowry, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney, Rory Sutherland, Rob Herring, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Alan O’Connor (capt), Kieran Treadwell, Dave McCann, Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen
Replacements: Stewart Moore for Lowry (19 mins), Gareth Milasinovich for Toomaga-Allen (half-time), Tom Stewart for Herring, Sam Carter for Treadwell, Jordi Murphy for Timoney (all 59 mins), Craig Gilroy for Hume (65 mins), Nathan Doak for Cooney (73 mins), Eric O’Sullivan for Sutherland (79 mins).
CONNACHT: Tiernan O’Halloran, John Porch, Tom Farrell, Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen, Jack Carty (capt), Caolin Blade, Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham, Josh Murphy, Niall Murray, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Conor Oliver, Cian Prendergast
Replacements: Byron Ralston for Hansen (both 27-40 mins), Dylan Tierney-Martin for Heffernan, Jack Aungier for Bealham, Oisín Dowling for Murray (all 57 mins), Jarrad Butler for Prendergast (63 mins), Jordan Duggan for Buckley, Kieran Marmion for Blade (both 65 mins), Tom Daly for O’Halloran (69 mins).
Referee: Andrew Brace
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/9ea5a3c9-a623-43ea-9002-61b245cdabe6.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IMNWKIX5DFFCFE5CD5NLBU6EVY.png)