Late try helps Connacht to maximum against Ulster

David Skippers
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Connacht returned to PRO14 action on a victorious note as they edged out Ulster 26-20 in a thrilling game at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Sunday.

Two crisply-created scores from John Porch after 11 minutes and Kieran Marmion after 22 had Connacht leading 14-6 at half-time, the westerners looking particularly sharp in their first game at Irish Rugby Football Union HQ since 1989.

Ulster, whose play-off qualification was confirmed by Edinburgh’s win over Glasgow Warriors on Saturday night, could only muster two John Cooney penalties until Jacob Stockdale crossed six minutes into the second half.

Bundee Aki and Nick Timoney swapped tries either side of the hour mark before Andy Friend’s men finished the stronger, with young replacement prop Jack Aungier celebrating his debut with the bonus-point effort inside the final two minutes.

Cooney knocked over a long-range fifth-minute opener, rewarding Marcell Coetzee’s efforts at the breakdown.

It was a scrappy start, mired by reset scrums, until Connacht began to blaze a trail towards the try-line.

Alex Wootton, one of five Connacht debutants on the day, stretched his legs up into the opposition 22. With Ultan Dillane carrying hard and Denis Buckley showing soft hands, Ulster’s splintered defence allowed Jack Carty to cleverly throw an overhead pass and send Porch in behind the posts.

Carty’s conversion was followed by a second Cooney penalty, but Connacht were already in a free-flowing mood.

A cracking move down the left wing saw Wootton connect with man-of-the-match Porch, whose left-footed dink infield sat up perfectly for Marmion to touch down.

Carty converted before watching Cooney suffer his only penalty miss in humid conditions.

Ulster’s execution was letting them down, with Adam McBurney held up from a 35th-minute lineout maul and then suffering an overthrow.

Ulster improved their accuracy during the third quarter, although again Stuart McCloskey and McBurney were denied tries from close range.

Direct rugby off a 46th-minute scrum paid off, though, as Billy Burns’ beautifully-floated pass put Stockdale over to the right of the posts.

Connacht wasted little time in responding, Tom Farrell just losing the ball forward in the act of scoring before centre partner Aki made certain from a subsequent 54th-minute attack.

He powered through Ian Madigan’s attempted tackle to crash in under the posts, with Carty converting.

Madigan soon claimed his first Ulster points, converting number eight Timoney’s try from a five-metre scrum.

Connacht were now down to seven forwards due to replacement hooker Jonny Murphy’s sin-binning for a no-arms tackle.

However, it was they who showed more energy late on as Aki agonisingly fumbled a Jarrad Butler offload out wide, while a Peter Sullivan-led break could have led to points.

That clinching score did come, however, as Aungier burrowed over from a close-in ruck to seal the bonus point.

Earlier, George North scored the opening try of the Ospreys’ first game in 184 days, but seven minutes later saw red in the 20-20 draw with the Dragons at the Liberty Stadium.

It means the Wales and British & Irish Lions wing faces the prospect of another month or more on the sidelines ahead of Wales’ scheduled Six Nations clash with Scotland at the end of next month.

North barged two men off to score the first try of the PRO14 contest in the seventh minute but then got his timing wrong as he challenged opposite number Ashton Hewitt at the kick-off following the Dragons wing’s 20-metre dash to the home try line moments earlier.

As Hewitt jumped high to catch the ball, North got underneath him and sent the Dragons’ player into a complete somersault before landing on his neck.

Referee Adam Jones had no option other than to dismiss the Wales wing for the first time in his career after replaying the incident on the big screen.

Stephen Myler bagged the first points under the Ospreys’ new head coach Toby Booth with a third minute penalty and then added the extras to the North try.

Hewitt’s quick response was converted by Ospreys old boy Sam Davies and then the Dragons went ahead. Giant prop Leon Brown crashed through one tackle, raced 20 metres and then carried Dan Evans over the line to claim a rare try and make it 12-10 to the visitors.

Myler slotted another penalty before Kieran Williams created the space to send hooker Scott Parry racing 20 metres to the posts for a second home try that Myler again improved.

On the stroke of half-time Davies cut the gap to five points with a penalty, to keep the game hanging in the balance.

The Ospreys’ 14 men were denied a try at the start of the second half when a forward was held up over the line and Myler was wide with a reasonable penalty shot.

It looked as though another former Ospreys player, full-back Dafydd Howells, had levelled the scores with a 71st-minute try. However, after studying the video the officials found he had lost control of the ball as he went over the line and ruled out the score.

The Dragons continued to press home their numerical advantage and it finally told in the 79th minute when they worked Hewitt over for a try in the left corner. That levelled the scores and Davies’ conversion was just wide to leave the spoils shared.

 

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