Ulster 35
Connacht 3

Adam McKendry reports from Kingspan Stadium

IN THE SPACE of ten minutes either side of half-time, Ulster displayed on both sides of the ball why they should be considered a force to be reckoned with this season.

While the 35-3 scoreline suggests a game that was one-sided enough that they only had to show off their offensive capabilities, it was, in fact, a 30-phase defensive set at the tail end of the first half that got them into the position to run rampant in the second half.

At 14-3 up thanks to first half scores from Alan O’Connor and a try of the season contender from Billy Burns, Ulster lost Rob Herring to the sin bin but still held out their rivals in a sensational defensive display, racking up 154 tackles in the first period alone in holding out the visitors at the try line.

That, in turn, brought them out of the dressing room at the start of the second half to wrap up the extra point, Robert Baloucoune and Herring crossing inside the first 10 minutes of the restart to secure the four tries that takes them back to seven behind Leinster in Conference A of the Guinness PRO14.

They’ll be worried about losing Marcell Coetzee and Louis Ludik early in the first half, however, significant blows in the context of the victory, but at the same time this is another big step in the right direction for the province as they bounced back to winning ways superbly from their defeat to Leinster last weekend.

It looked like Ulster had the breakthrough in just the fourth minute as the sensational Will Addison and Baloucoune linked superbly, the full-back chipping over the onrushing Connacht defence to gather himself and then feed the winger for the score, only for the TMO to correctly rule the pass was forward.

At the other end, while Connacht were not so much clinical, they at least put points on the board. After spending several minutes attacking in the 22, although they didn’t get over the whitewash, Conor Fitzgerald kicked them into the lead with what proved to be their only points of the game.

But from there it all became about Ulster, and when they finally did get their first try of the game, it was fortuitous enough, Connacht turning over an Ulster lineout on their own line, only for Robin Copeland to spill the ball right into the hands of O’Connor to flop over for the seven points.

If the first score was lucky enough, the second was pure skill. Some exceptional hands from Baloucoune and Sean Reidy after a counter-attack set Billy Burns away and over for the second score that gave them some breathing space.

But where the attack was so good, the defence also stepped up to the mark. Connacht battled back to establish themselves in the Ulster 22 and from there they encamped themselves on the line, only to be met by a white wall of resistance that repeatedly drove them back. Even when Herring was dismissed for repeated infringements, they still held out and got to the interval unscathed.

John Cooney with Ulster fans after the game. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Unsurprisingly, the squad came out for the second half energised and they immediately made that feel-good factor pay even though they were still a man down for the first few minutes of the second period.

Inside the opening ten minutes, they had the bonus point wrapped up. Some lovely hands down the sideline set Baloucoune over for the third early just three minutes into the second half to land the sucker punch to the visitors, and when Herring made amends for his sin binning by driving over from a maul seven minutes later, the bonus point was wrapped up.

Shane Delahunt saw yellow for repeated infringements on the Connacht side midway through the half, although it didn’t prove costly for the visitors, but it would still be Ulster who would have the last laugh, Nick Timoney bashing through two tackles and over for the score with three minutes to go as the icing on the cake.

Scorers

Ulster

Tries: A O’Connor, Burns, Baloucoune, Herring, Timoney

Cons: Cooney (4), Johnston

Connacht

Pen: C Fitzgerald

Ulster: Will Addison; Robert Baloucoune, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Louis Ludik (Craig Gilroy 28); Billy Burns (Bill Johnston 62), John Cooney (David Shanahan 70); Jack McGrath (Kyle McCall 51), Rob Herring (Adam McBurney 65), Marty Moore (Tom O’Toole 51); Alan O’Connor, Kieran Treadwell (David O’Connor 60); Matty Rea, Sean Reidy, Marcell Coetzee (Nick Timoney 24).

Yellow card: Rob Herring (34′)

Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran (David Horwitz 63); John Porch, Tom Daly, Peter Robb (Stephen Fitzgerald 39), Kyle Godwin; Conor Fitzgerald, Caolin Blade (Stephen Kerins 48); (1-8) Paddy McAllister (Denis Buckley 28), Dave Heffernan (Shane Delahunt 51), Finlay Bealham (Dominic Robertson-McCoy 28); Ultan Dillane (Niall Murray 63), Joe Maksymiw; Eoin McKeon (Eoghan Masterson 45), Paul Boyle, Robin Copeland.

Yellow card: Shane Delahunt (65′)

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