Jacob Stockdale stocks continue to rise as Ireland flyer stars in Ulster’s commanding victory
Ulster's Jacob Stockdale.
Jacob Stockdale continued his fine form as he bagged a brace of tries in Ulster’s 36-12 demolition of Ospreys at home on Friday.
The Irish side scored five tries with James McCormack also bagging a brace while Marcus Rea scored one of his own. John Cooney and Nathan Doak kicked a conversion each to round out the scoring.
Ospreys managed two tries of their own through Sam Parry and Keelan Giles while Daniel Edwards added one conversion from the tee in a losing effort.
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After a scrum penalty, Ulster kicked to the corner and from the resulting lineout the forwards set up a powerful driving maul with McCormick touching down.
Ulster crossed again six minutes later as a slick handling move involving Cormac Izuchukwu, Mike Lowry and David McCann created space for Stockdale and the Ireland winger went over in the corner, although John Cooney again was off target with the conversion.
Ulster used their maul to good effect again on 23 minutes. From a five-metre lineout, the forwards were about to rumble over the Ospreys line but Welsh scrum half Kieran Hardy came in from the side to stop the momentum illegally, the referee awarding the home side a penalty try and showing the pivot a yellow card.
Stockdale seemed to have sealed the bonus point two minutes later by finishing off a great move that started in Ulster’s half, but the try was chalked off for a forward pass in the build-up.
That bonus point try did arrive on 32 minutes when, following a series of pick and goes on the Ospreys line, flanker Marcus Rea barged over from close range with Cooney adding the extras.
In a rare sortie into the Ulster 22, the Ospreys opened their account with the clock in the red at the end of the first half. The visitors kicked a penalty to the corner and hooker Sam Parry dotted down, Dan Edwards’ conversion cutting Ulster’s lead at the interval to 24-7.
McCormick got his second try of the contest on 50 minutes, powering over from a tap penalty before Keelan Giles notched an unconverted Ospreys try.
The home side replied immediately with Stockdale diving over from a tight angle for his second try, which Nathan Doak converted.
Ulster v Opsreys
Ulster: 15 Mike Lowry, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Ben Carson, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Aidan Morgan, 9 John Cooney, 8 David McCann, 7 Marcus Rea, 6 Cormac Izuchukwu, 5 Harry Sheridan, 4 Alan O’Connor (c), 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 James McCormick, 1 Eric O’Sullivan
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Callum Reid, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Matty Rea, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 James Humphreys, 23 Jude Postlethwaite
Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morris (c), 7 Justi Tipuric, 6 Lewis Lloyd, 5 Lewis Jones, 4 Will Greatbanks, 3 Ben Warren, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Math Iowerth-Scott, 19 Rhys Thomas, 20 Dan Gemine, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Max Nagy
Venue: Kingspan Stadium, Belfast
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 46th league game)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Cole (IRFU), Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
