Ulster battle back to down Munster in Rob Herring's record match
Tries in either half from Jacob Stockdale and Nick Timoney allowed Ulster to battle back from 14-3 down and beat Munster by 21-14 in the United Rugby Championship.
On a night when hooker Rob Herring made his record breaking 230th Ulster appearance, Ulster’s bench had the edge for them in a closely-fought game with Herring joined by Iain Henderson, John Cooney and new cap Scott Wilson in having a big impact in the second half.
Nathan Doak contributed a conversion and three penalties to securing the win with Ulster’s defence holding firm in a pulsating finish to the game.
Craig Casey scored two tries in the first half for reigning URC champions Munster, with Jack Crowley converting both.
Casey scuttled over the Ulster line after just eight minutes after Munster had turned the screw on the home team’s scrum and forced several penalties.
Then on Ulster’s first visit to Munster’s line, Ethan McIlroy collided heavily with Shane Daly resulting in the Ulster player’s enforced departure and a yellow card for the visiting full-back.
The resulting penalty was slotted by Doak to get Ulster off the mark, but four minutes later 14-man Munster scored their second try as Casey again went over from close range.
On 26 minutes, Ulster finally produced an attack of note when Billy Burns’ cross-kick was collected by Stockdale who made the corner. Doak just missed the conversion from the difficult angle.
The half ended with no further score, though Ulster nearly put Stockdale away again, and the teams trooped off with Munster leading 14-8.
The new half was six minutes old when Munster were penalised within range of their posts and Doak kicked his second penalty to cut the visitors’ lead to three points.
Then three minutes after the hour, Doak nailed another penalty to tie things up after Munster were penalised for being offside following a strong carry from new cap Wilson.
Ulster, with subs Henderson and Herring making an impact, then cranked up the pressure and from a scrum, Timoney surged over the Munster line on 68 minutes to give the hosts the lead for the first time. Doak added an excellent conversion.
The home team then held out as Munster threw everything at their line, Herring winning the final turnover to secure the result.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big 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.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 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.
2 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
2 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 commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to comments