United Rugby Championship: Ulster 17 Connacht 7
Ulster rolled up their sleeves to dig out a hard fought and deserving 10-point win over Connacht on Saturday night.
The win also brings an end a five-game losing streak for Richie Murphy’s side
Tries in each half from Eric O’Sullivan and Nick Timoney were backed up by two conversions and a penalty from Nathan Doak while Connacht’s sole response was a Mack Hansen try shortly before half-time.
Timoney was named Player of the Match, but in truth anyone in an Ulster shirt could’ve taken the award.
Connacht had no answer to the intensity that Ulster brought, particularly in the opening exchanges as number eight James McNabney and tight-head Scott Wilson continually broke through the host’s defensive line.
Young centre Jude Postlethwaite was also very impressive and he made it a frustrating night for opposite number Bundee Aki.
Jack Murphy, son of Richie, delivered an assured debut at out-half while his half-back partner Nathan Doak delivered a performance that is surely going to grab the attention of the Irish selectors.
Arriving in Galway minus a number of experienced players, Ulster were dealt a further double blow with two further late withdrawals.
Captain Alan O’Connor was forced out due to illness before Rob Herring got injured in the warm-up.
Any wonder head coach Murphy was on cloud nine after the game.
“Yeah, definitely we’re absolutely delighted to get that win,” said Murphy.
“Travelling up during the week we lost a few boys. Even in the warm-up there we lost Rob Herring. So, we were missing a lot of experience out there on the pitch.
“For those guys to come in and do as well as they have done, and for those young backs to stand-up against the likes of Bundee (Aki) and Mack (Hansen) is massively satisfying for us.
Ulster have been guilty of late of conceding soft tries and their defensive displays have been a major cause for much concern.
But on Saturday night a new look backline brought more physicality and aggression to their game.
“We didn’t give them a minute on the ball. Defensively, we put a lot of pressure on them and a lot of that credit has to go to Jonny Bell.
“You always think you are going to have to do a little bit more and you know from an attack point of view obviously the two tries we got came on the back of good forward carries.
“Dominating a little bit around the gain line as we said earlier, that young backline, it’s going to take a little bit of time to get used to the speed of the game and how they sort of bring others into the game.
“But I thought both Ben Carson and Jude Postlethwaite were very strong with their carries. I thought Jack Murphy put us in a couple of different good places and I thought Nathan Doak had an incredibly good game. His clearance kicking and his pressure coming through off the backline was incredible.”
And there is no telling what a win like this could do for this young Ulster side as Murphy explains.
“It’s funny like, every game is worth the same amount of points. It’s literally just another win.
“But on the back of five losses, on the back of the players that were missing, that was a huge moment in the careers of some of the younger guys and the challenge for them is to become more comfortable at this level.
“And again, going back to the competition in the squad is what we need in order to get everyone better and that’s the challenge for now on.”
