ULSTER SNAPPED THEIR five-game losing streak with a brilliant performance charged by their young players in Galway tonight.

Richie Murphy’s men recorded a deserved 17-7 win away to Connacht despite making the trip to Galway without a string of senior players.

Yet the visitors looked hungrier throughout, starting with real intent and delivering some excellent defensive moments to land their first away win of the season.

“We’re obviously massively delighted to get that win,” said Ulster boss Richie Murphy.

‘Traveling up during the week we lost a few boys, even in the warm-up there we lost Rob Herring, so we’re missing a lot of experience on the pitch. So for those guys to come in and do as well as they did and for those young backs to stand up and play against the likes of Bundee (Aki) and Mack (Hansen) is massively satisfying for us.

“We didn’t give them a minute on the ball defensively, we put a lot of pressure on them and a lot of that credit has to go to Johnny Bell.”

Ulster captain Nick Timoney was outstanding, while number eight James McNabney led the charge in a dominant first half showing.

Murphy also singled out his half-backs and a strong defensive display from centres Ben Carson and Jude Postlethwaite.

“From an attack point of view, obviously the two tries we got were on the back of good forward carries, dominating a little bit around the gain line.

“That young backline is going to take a little bit of time to get used to the speed of the game and how they can bring others into the game, but I thought both Ben Carson and Jude Postlethwaite were very strong defensively, very strong with their carry.

“I thought Jack Murphy put us in a couple of different good places and Nathan Doak had an incredibly good game. His clearance kicking and his pressure coming through off the back of the line was incredible.”

The win lifts Ulster to eighth in the URC table, as they head into a break week before returning to Champions Cup action with games against Leicester and Exeter next month.