URC: Munster 41 Ulster 14
Munster found a way through the adversity of injury and managed to iron out the kinks of a clunky and disjointed opening 40 minutes to smooth the progression to a deserved victory over Ulster at Thomond Park on Saturday. The scored in staccato bursts but it was the sustained post-interval upturn in control and quality that enabled them to copperfasten the outcome.
Even though it took a little time, the home side found solutions to injury – they lost Jack Crowley in the warm-up and Tom Farrell (shoulder), Calvin Nash (hamstring), Jean Kleyn (bicep) and Oli Jager (concussion) at various points during the game. They also found a way around the constraints of a six-two split on the bench that required a little lateral thinking in positional terms.
The final scoreline will add an additional layer of pain to a bruised Ulster side that made their way back to Belfast. Bravery wasn’t an issue, nor was enterprise and quality in the first half. But they ran out of bodies, ideas and possession and in the second half were schooled by a rampant home side, who were able to synchronise endeavour and accuracy.
John Hodnett deserves every plaudit, no less accomplished whether playing openside flanker or the wing, an injury-enforced switch. Four tries is a fitting embellishment to an outstanding individual display, on an evening when replacement Alex Kendellen’s hat-trick, would ordinarily have commandeered the headlines.
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Seven tries to two suggests a spanking but Munster’s first two came when Ulster were short-handed, reduced to 14 players after the indefatigable Tom Brigg’s yellow card, and three more in a seven-minute spell between the 47th and 54th minutes, a salvo underpinned by judicious adventure, passes timed and delivered on cue.
Munster, who had survived the loss of Crowley in the warm-up, struggled initially to get to the pitch of the match, and had to survive two occasions when Ulster players, James McKillop and Ben Carson, got over the home side’s line but couldn’t ground the ball. Shane Daly and Tadhg Beirne provided crucial defensive interventions.
Ulster were bright in their patterns, energetic and attacked in a nuanced manner, around the fringes and in the wider corridors. They could feel slightly aggrieved to be trailing at half-time having played cracking rugby at times, ambitious, fluent, thoughtful and with oodles of spirit.
Charlie Irvine, the excellent Lorcan McLoughlin, Ethan McIlroy and captain Michael Lowry excelled against that backdrop of injury and misfortune. Mistakes were inevitable as fatigue set in. There were times when Ulster were a little naive in their defending and option-taking but that was to be expected from a scratch side.
They had the courage to chase the game but not the composure and cohesion that accompanies long-standing familiarity. The visitors had the temerity to take the lead, an acrobatic finish from Aitzol Arenzana-King survived a second look at Lowry’s scoring pass. Jake Flannery kicked a superb touchline conversion. It was the least they deserved in terms of scoreboard pressure.
Munster, in contrast, were periodically careless, as they forced and overran passes that tossed away possession. It dogged them for much of the opening half. Respite arrived when Brigg was binned, a harsh call on a slap down, and an outcome at odds of an earlier decision in which Nash survived without a similar censure.
Hodnett had no issue with double jobbing, shearing off a lineout maul to score his first try and then leaning on his creative genes to make the pivotal break initially and then pop up to finish for his second try.
Ulster might have sneaked the last score of the half if Lowry was able to hold Brigg’s half-break and offload, but the fullback couldn’t regather having juggled the ball initially.
Munster took a firm grasp soon after the interval, Kendellen’s brace and Hodnett’s third ensured that the home supporters were able to sit back and enjoy the last half an hour. Visibly more relaxed and playing with tempo, width and a sharp offloading instinct, Munster responded to a try by Ulster replacement hooker John Andrew with one more apiece from Hodnett and Kendellen.
Munster head coach Clayton McMillan was happy with the win but conceded it had been a game and a performance of two halves.
“Yeah, to be honest, probably mixed emotions around the performance. The first half, I thought we did well to hold them out to seven at half-time, but what we encountered was a young Ulster team that was passionate, probably feeling like they had a lot to play for.
“Nobody was probably giving them a chance, and they just had us on our heels for the whole first half. I think possession and territory was about 70-something per cent. I felt we were on our heels, didn’t get up and bang them and then when we did get a couple of opportunities with the ball, we were trying to create something out of nothing instead of just respecting the ball and going another phase.
“So, the first half was pretty disappointing from my perspective, but it was much better in the second half.”
SCORING SEQUENCE – 12 mins: Arenzana-King try, Flannery con, 0-7; 24: Hodnett try, 5-7; 28: Hodnett try, Hanrahan con, 12-7. Half-time: 12-7. 47: Kendellen try, 17-7; 52: Kendellen try, Hanrahan con, 24-7; 54: Hodnett try, 29-7; 64: Andrew try, Flannery con, 29-14; 66: Hodnett try, 34-14; 68: Kendellen try, Hanrahan con, 41-14.
MUNSTER: Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Andrew Smith; JJ Hanrahan, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Oli Jager; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Tom Ahern, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Edwin Edogbo for Kleyn (HIA, 4-15 and 16 mins); Dan Kelly for Nash (29); Alex Kendellen for Farrell (43); Michael Ala’alatoa for Jager (HIA, 46); Michael Milne for Loughman, Lee Barron for D Barron (both 53); Brian Gleeson for Beirne (58); Ben O’Donovan for Casey (69).
ULSTER: Michael Lowry (capt); Aitzol Arenzana-King, Ethan McIlroy, Ben Carson, Ben Moxham; Jake Flannery, Conor McKee; Eric O’Sullivan, James McCormick, Bryan O’Connor; Harry Sheridan, Charlie Irvine; James McKillop, Tom Brigg, Lorcan McLoughlin.
Replacements: Jonny Scott for Carson (15 mins); Callum Reid for O’Sullivan (30); Tom McAllister for O’Connor (39); Dave Shanahan for McKee, Joe Hopes for McKillop (both 53); John Andrew for McCormick, Marcus Rea for Brigg (57); James Humphreys for Lowry (60).
Yellow card: Tom Brigg (24 mins).
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland).
