John Cooney leads Ulster to victory over Connacht while Bulls’ fast start enough to beat Ospreys

12 points from John Cooney helped Ulster return to winning ways with a hard-fought 32-27 United Rugby Championship victory over Connacht at Kingspan Stadium.

The hosts, beaten in South Africa by the Lions and then the Bulls in their most recent outings, bounced back thanks to a Player of the Match showing from Cooney.

A 71st-minute red card for Josh Murphy following a shoulder to the face of James McCormick with the scores level at 24-24 proved costly for Connacht as the home side made the extra man count in the closing stages.

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Ulster hooker John Andrew broke the deadlock little more than two minutes in after being propelled over from a maul, Cooney converting.

Winger Shayne Bolton opened Connacht’s account after 11 minutes with an unconverted try. Following a series of probes on the Ulster try-line scrum-half Ben Murphy, the son of Ulster coach Richie, threw a looping pass wide for Bolton to finish in the corner.

Ulster extended their lead after 20 minutes with a try from Jude Postlethwaite, the centre reaching out and dotting down from close range, but Cooney was off target with the conversion.

Cooney scored Ulster’s third try after 28 minutes, picking the ball up from the base of a ruck on the Connacht 22 to go under the posts, making his conversion a formality.

Lock Joe Joyce got Connacht back in the game with a try from a driving maul three minutes later, but Josh Ioane could not convert from a tight angle.

Ulster had winger Werner Kok sin-binned for a tackle in the air a minute later.

Murphy showed the Ulster defence a clean pair off heels to ace over from long range with the clock in the red at the end of the first half and Ioane converted to cut Ulster’s advantage to 19-17 at the interval.

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Connacht had a try chalked off by the TMO three minutes into the second half as flanker Sean O’Brien was adjudged not to have grounded the ball.

They were reduced to 14 men when lock Josh Murphy was yellow carded after 50 minutes and Ulster took immediate advantage with their bonus-point try from flanker David McCann.

The sides were level after 61 minutes as replacement hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin scored from a maul, with Ioane converting.

But then came Murphy’s sending-off and Cooney was on target with the resulting penalty.

Nick Timoney put the result beyond doubt with Ulster’s fifth try in the 78th minute before Ioane knocked over a penalty with the last kick of the game.

Bulls beat Ospreys to make it three wins from three

Elsewhere, the Bulls maintained their winning start to the United Rugby Championship season following a 29-19 win over Ospreys in Swansea.

For the Welsh region it was a third defeat in four outings this season and sees them sit in 12th place in the fledgling table after they failed to take advantage of the South Africans playing more than half-an-hour with 14 men following the dismissal of David Kriel.

Elrigh Louw, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Embrose Papier scored early tries as the Bulls raced into a 19-0 lead after only 12 minutes.

The bonus point was secured after just 22 minutes when Arendse went over for his second and Bulls’ fourth try.

Ospreys did respond with tries from Dewi Lake, Ryan Conbeer and Morgan Morris but the damage had already been done.

Bulls were quick out of the blocks and needed just two minutes to open the scoring. Sebastian De Klerk scooped up a loose ball and it was worked to number eight Louw to charge over, with Boeta Chamberlain adding the extras.

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The visitors kept the foot on the gas and breached the Ospreys defence again with 10 minutes on the clock. With the forwards securing good field the position, quick play saw Willie Le Roux and Canan Moodie combine to send Arendse over in the left corner.

As the Bulls’ confidence grew they had the Ospreys defence on the backfoot and stole a lineout ball to enable Papier to scoot over, with Chamberlain again adding the extras from the tee.

The bonus point was in the bag when Le Roux’s precise kick into the corner was pounced on by Arendse to slide over and Chamberlain again converted.

Ospreys got on the board when Dan Edwards’ kick put them five metres out and the rolling maul got to work with Lake crashing over.

Kriel was dismissed nine minutes into the second half for leading with the elbow in a challenge on Edwards.

Ospreys made the extra man count as swift hands through the backs created the space for Conbeer to slide in.

Morris celebrated his 100th appearance for Ospreys with a try but – with Bulls finishing the game with 13 players after a yellow card for Alulutho Tshakweni – they could not get any closer.

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