Ulster Rugby 21
Ospreys 7
Adam McKendry reports from Kingspan Stadium
ULSTER MISSED THE chance to put additional pressure on Leinster at the top of Conference A in the Guinness Pro14 as they laboured to a 21-7 win over the Ospreys at Kingspan Stadium but failed to pick up that all-important bonus point.
Dan McFarland’s men were nearly kept scoreless at half-time on home soil as the Ospreys exerted a surprising amount of control over proceedings before the break, with only John Cooney’s try just before the interval getting them on the board.
After the restart, the province gave themselves a great chance to get the job done when John Andrew crossed and they were awarded a penalty try just after the hour mark, but, like in Glasgow a week prior, despite having plenty of time they couldn’t find the fourth try for the extra point.
Rob Lyttle had a late score chalked off for a forward pass just to rub salt in the wounds and it leaves McFarland’s side one point behind Leinster in the standings despite having played one game more than their rivals.
There was a positive to take in that winger Jacob Stockdale made a successful return from injury in the clash, playing the first half and looking impressive in his first game back, which will no doubt have piqued Andy Farrell’s interest ahead of the Scotland game in two weeks’ time.
Indeed, if there were any fears over Stockdale’s knee before kick-off, he quickly allayed them when he soared highest to take an early Cooney box-kick off the kick-off before shipping a double hit but bouncing straight back up.
But after the winger’s dream start, Ulster’s own opening few minutes turned into something from their worst nightmares as Rhys Webb managed to charge down a kick from Ian Madigan just outside the Ulster 22, and he then had the presence of mind to hack through for Keelan Giles to dot down for the opening try inside two minutes.
For a long time that looked like it would be the one and only talking point of the opening period, with the Ospreys happy to monopolise possession and Ulster seemingly incapable of holding onto the ball for more than a couple of phases at a time, their usually clinical attack surprisingly lacklustre and incohesive.
But, just when it looked like Ulster would be kept scoreless at home for 40 minutes, they got a major stroke of luck.
Attacking just outside the Ulster 22, Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler tried to stab a kick in behind that bounced off the heel of Madigan into the waiting clutches of Nick Timoney and the No.8 hared from one 22 to the other before feeding the supporting Cooney to take it the rest of the way under the posts.
Stockdale’s night ended at the interval, the winger replaced by another returning player, Robert Baloucoune, and the replacement was busy early as the hosts tried to shake off their tepid first half display and take full points from the tie.
Andrew got them off to the perfect start in that regard, powering over from the back of a maul after Cooney turned down a surefire three points in favour of going for the corner to get their second score instead, their aggressive decision making paying off.
And when Ospreys full-back Dan Evans was sin binned shortly after the hour for a deliberate knock-on as Rob Lyttle tried to find Baloucoune, a quick check with the TMO determined that the latter would have strolled over but for the Welshman’s intervention and referee Sean Gallagher went under the posts.
However, despite their numerical advantage and with just under 20 minutes left on the clock, Ulster were left frustrated for a second consecutive week as they couldn’t find that killer try that would really ramp up the heat on Leinster in the Conference table.
They thought they had it when Lyttle stepped his man and dived over spectacularly with less than three minutes to go on the clock, only this time the TMO turned from friend to foe, spotting a forward pass in the build-up and ruling out the try, leaving an air of deflation around Belfast at the full-time whistle.
The scorers
For Ulster
Tries: Cooney, Andrew, Penalty
Cons: Cooney (2), Penalty
For Ospreys
Try: Giles
Con: Myler
ULSTER RUGBY
(15-9) Michael Lowry; Rob Lyttle, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale (Robert Baloucoune 40); Ian Madigan (Matt Faddes 70), John Cooney (Alby Mathewson 59); (1-8) Andrew Warwick (Eric O’Sullivan 51), John Andrew (Adam McBurney 63), Marty Moore (Ross Kane 51); Alan O’Connor, Kieran Treadwell (Cormac Izuchukwu 63); Greg Jones (Sean Reidy 51), Jordi Murphy, Nick Timoney.
OSPREYS
(15-9) Dan Evans; Keelan Giles, Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler (Joe Hawkins 73), Keiran Williams, Luke Morgan (Shaun Venter 40); Stephen Myler (Luke Price 80), Rhys Webb; (1-8) Gareth Thomas (Nicky Smith 59), Sam Parry (Ifan Phillips 51), Tom Botha (Ma’afu Fia 63); Lloyd Ashley, Rhys Davies; Will Griffiths, Olly Cracknell (Sam Cross 46), Morgan Morris (Gareth Evans 67).
Yellow card: Dan Evans (63′)
Man of the Match: Nick Timoney (Ulster)
Referee: Seán Gallagher (IRFU)
Didn’t watch. My mate Bradley from Antrim remarked that it was a cracker. Cooney excellent again. V unlucky not to be in the Ireland set-up
@Hugh: “Bradley started in Ulster senior cup final, so he knows a thing or two about rugby if your wondering. I met him on the train on the way to Aviva to watch Ireland vs Scotland. We won”
@Hugh: Tell me more about Bradley,seems like a right character in fairness.
@Hugh: Fair play, nice to meet people randomly. Hopefully we can follow up that win again.
@Cosmo: He was an “old school” blindside flanker, and was asked to play Ireland u21s at the time but he focused on education and is now an optician although he is cross eyed himself. He’s got a great sense of humour too and loves long bike rides.
@Hugh: haha…..that gave me a good laugh! Thanks!
@Joe Kennedy: loving the adventures of Bradleigh and Hugh here meself, cheers Hugh..
Would be nice for ya to bump into him again over a beer watching a game, or better again in a stadium having a beer.
Great to see stockdale back. As for that photo can’t say I’ve even like the idea of a rugby player showboating when scoring a try. Something a little disrespectfull about it.
@Chris Mc: You may never have been to Ravenhill but the bar is behind the end stand. There isnt any showboating here, whats happened if Lyttle is ordering one pint for himself and has tripped and is falling over when the picture was taken.
@Chris Mc: that pic was the not to be 4th try 2 min from the end, and ultimately he’s 3th disallowed try in the game. So while I agree with you in principle, I can understand why he did at the time.
@Patrick Corrigan: ah look it was one photo, he’s a real nice player and maybe I’m just being old fashioned.
@Chris Mc: more worried about them dropping the ball before grounding. And to make it worse the try was then disallowed.
@Chris Mc: I don’t like Lyttle showboating and I don’t like Sexton being substituted in a hissy fit.
@Trevor Johnston: slightly different but yeah both disrespectfull. In sextons case he believed that he could make a difference in a 6 nations game, it looked bad, if I wanted a sexton example of disrespecting the opposition I’d have went for the ROG incident.
Another example was Zebo in Ravenhill, its just not wanted in the game.
@Trevor Johnston: I suspect i may have a few years on you. Probably would have agreed 10 years ago now this young man left a few shady characters in his slipstream none of whom had a great deal of concern for his overall health. He glided past.He works and trains hard lives for the game there is probably a few million people in the county that would have loved to have felt such euphoria, Unashamedly and enviously I was one.
@Chris Mc: fully agree. Not a fan of showboating in rugby, or OTT celebrations as in football.
@Chris Mc: Was gonna say great photo! Lol. Don’t be such an auld begrudger Chris!
@Chris Mc: I think the Lowry incident was in the away leg.
Great watching a team with a bit; f flair and courage to throw the ball around. Cooney in top form.
@Noel Lynn: Cooney’s been the best player in Ireland for the past three seasons but like Andy Reid under Trap, he will never be picked !
@Darren Mullins: has to start for Ireland!
@Not Barnes: never will!
@Darren Mullins: why?
Timoneys pulled away nicely for the first Ulster try had some gas for an 8
Reading the report you would think Ulster had some luck and didn’t play particularly well? I thought Ulster ran the ball at every opportunity and it was great to watch. They were a bit unfortunate not to get the bonus point.
@Bob Cummings:
They rode their luck n the first half and could easily have been 10-15 points behind at half time.
Better in the second half but way way too many unforced errors.
Performance was about a 5 or 6 out of 10
@Mark Smith: 5 out of 10 at most. Pack in particular was very poor in first half. A very disjointed display. League over. I can’t see Leinster losing to Glasgow and based on tonight’s performance they will beat Ulster at Ravenhill. We might as well pick young guns such as McCann, Reid and Izzy. Give them the experience. Great to see Baloucoune back. He is in some nick. Hard to believe it was his first game of the season.
@Trevor Johnston: I wouldn’t be so despondent yet. Leinster next week, I think Ulster have a great chance of winning, even if its not enough to top the league, it would still be a confidence boost. Glasgow may have a number of internations back and could do us a favour. There is still the challange cup to play for, which I think Ulster have a great chance of winning. Also I doubt the Rainbow Cup will happen, which will prob mean playoffs increased to top 2, which would mean an away trip to Munster, which I think Ulster could win, to make the final V Leinster/Connacht.
@Mark Smith: a bit harsh, my point was, Ulster deserved to win.
@Trevor Johnston: 5 out of 10, really?
@Kingshu: I hope the league goes to a play off, its just not fair either one of leinster or ulster don’t get a chance to make the final just because they were in the same group.
@Bob Cummings: yes. Very very poor opening half. It just shows how weak the forwards are without Cootzee.
Mike Lowry had another good game seems to add excitement anytime hes on the ball … hes of the same ilk as damien McKenzie in hes a flyhalf and fullback rolled into one. If the likes of himself and frawley can make the step up to irish selection youd have to imagine the attack would be much more varied and successful.
The pic at the top of article, wasn’t that disallowed? Was a beautiful run by Lyttle, but unfortunately it was disallowed.
Ulster looked good out there today though.
@SPQH: Yeah Lyttle has 3 really good finishes, and all 3 disallowed for a forward pass, not his fault and he showed real quality to get each of them over the line. RB when he can on appeared to be everywhere, and played very well. RB should be in the Ireland squad as soon as his fitness is fully proved.
@Kingshu: three finishes? Oh wow. I only seen the highlights and got distracted a couple of times during it too.
@Kingshu: the 2nd disallowed would have been a great try.