Late Diarmuid Kilgallen try sees Connacht come from behind to beat Ulster
Cool-headed Connacht came from 17 points down to beat Ulster 22-20 and avoid their first defeat at the Sportsground since last December.
Captain Jack Carty put a penalty miss behind him to send Diarmuid Kilgallen over for the decisive 73rd-minute try, as the westerners completed a hat-trick of early season BKT United Rugby Championship home wins.
Carty’s opposite number Jake Flannery was emerging as the hero of the hour, tagging two penalties onto his snappily-taken 33rd-minute try as Ulster led 13-3 at half-time.
His half-back partner Dave Shanahan scored to make it 20-3, but centres Cathal Forde and Tom Farrell both crossed during a crucial five-minute spell for Pete Wilkins’ men.
Injury-hit Ulster came under further pressure and despite Carty missing a chance to go level, he soon picked out winger Kilgallen to complete a memorable comeback.
There was early disruption for both sides as a nasty clash of heads meant Shamus Hurley-Langton and Ulster debutant Reuben Crothers had to be replaced.
Connacht’s veteran full-back Tiernan O’Halloran beat three defenders on a brilliant break that deserved a try, but the supporting Jarrad Butler was hauled down short.
Carty and Flannery traded penalties just past the 20-minute mark, and while Caolin Blade fizzed around the fringes, the Ulster defence was giving little away.
Indeed, when Harry Sheridan swept through from a ruck on halfway, he reached the Connacht 22 before expertly offloading for Flannery to finish under the posts.
Connacht were stung further when Conor Oliver was penalised for crossing two minutes later, and Flannery took the points on offer.
Shanahan cleverly slipped past O’Halloran to double Ulster’s try tally inside two minutes of the restart. Flannery converted to complete his 15-point haul.
The in-form Forde led the westerners’ response, cutting a clever line to get in behind the posts. Carty’s extras restored the 10-point gap.
Connacht probed off another solid maul before nice hands from Jack Aungier and Carty put Farrell over in the left corner. The skipper also nailed the conversion, leaving it 20-17.
Flannery pushed a kickable penalty wide and Ethan McIlroy then blew an Ulster overlap, putting too much on his pass after doing the hard work to break the defensive line.
The hosts took a grip on the closing stages, staying composed despite Cian Prendergast being held up and Carty’s penalty miss.
Much to the home crowd’s relief, a dinked kick from Carty saw Kilgallen go over untouched in the left corner. Ulster were unable to hit back and had to dig in to avoid conceding a late bonus-point score.
Comments on RugbyPass
Let’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to comments