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JUST ABOUT AND no more. Ulster squeezed home with an understrength team.
The optimistic will point to the vast number of 48 players used this season so far and the uptick in form. The pessimists will say how scrappy it all became and the control that vanished as the second half wore on.
Playing with the wind in the first half, with some squally showers blowing into the stadium that must have made Connacht feel at home, Ulster set the opening tempo high.
Dan McFarland, perhaps mindful of how they were beaten to the breakdown so frequently in the game last May, 15-10 to Connacht in the URC quarter-final, picked what many would feel to be his speedy options in the back row.
After just three minutes they had the first try of the game. An electrifying move down the left flank gave them the territory they required and after a few pick and mauls later, scrum half John Cooney was able to find doughty veteran Andy Warwick, all alone and ready to go over, Cooney making good with the conversion.
Just five minutes later Connacht were going close and it took Iain Henderson on the line to hold up Tom Farrell. But the pressure was high in the next phase and Bundee Aki flew over the line with some afters to follow. Jack Carty made the conversion.
Connacht were briefly under the impression they had the next try. Aki sent Sean O’Brien away into space and while he was taken down – and taken off in the next break in play – Shayne Bolton gathered and poked a grub kick forward that sat up nicely, eventually, but he just ran out of real estate on which to ground the ball.
The photograph here is instructive.
The tap penalty – such a weapon six days ago against Racing 92, was deployed again by Cooney on 20 minutes and the home side gained the necessary yards to once again recycle and put Nick Timoney over. The conversion was from seven yards off the touchline but Cooney floated it over to make it 14-7.
A measure of their aggression came when Mack Hansen was sacked twice in two minutes – the first time by that reborn Jacob Stockdale who is making a name for himself as a defensive force.
A penalty by Cooney on 51 minutes left them with a ten point advantage.
With the big unit replacements coming in, Connacht flipped the game on its’ head.
Shamus Hurley-Langton skipped along the touchline soon after avoiding the tackles to go over. There was a suspicion that his foot touched sideline chalk but that was waved away. However, the conversion was too tight for Carty.
Shayne Bolton wriggled through a gap to land Connacht’s next try on 69 minutes. JJ Hanrahan introduced two minutes before, landed the conversion to leave a single point in it.
Ulster asked a huge amount of their front row, as well as those retrieving Cooney’s box kicks as the needle ticked into red in the closing moments.
But in the end, they were awarded a penalty and smuggled it out the back of the scrum for Timoney to kick out. They made it. Just about.
Ulster scorers:
Tries: Andy Warwick (3), Timoney (19)
Conversions: John Cooney (3, 19)
Penalties: Cooney (51, 65)
Connacht scorers:
Tries: Bundee Aki (8), Shamus Hurley-Langton (60), Shayne Bolton (69)
Conversions: Jack Carty (8), JJ Hanrahan (69)
Penalties: 0
Ulster: Will Addison, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Jake Flannery, John Cooney; Andy Warwick, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Kieran Treadwell, Iain Henderson, Matty Rea, Sean Reffell, Nick Timoney
Replacements:
John Andrew for Stewart (52), Steven Kitshoff for Warwick (52) Tom O’Toole for Marty Moore (52), Harry Sheridan for Reffell (54), Jude Postlewaite for Hume (66), Alan O’Connor for Treadwell (69), Nathan Doak for Flannery (70), Shea O’Brien for Addison (77)
Connacht: Mack Hansen, Shayne Bolton, Tom Farrell, Bundee Aki, Byron Ralston, Jack Carty, Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Tadgh McElroy, Finlay Bealham, Darragh Murray, Gavin Thornbury, Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Sean O’Brien.
Replacements:
Conor Oliver for Sean O’Brien (14), Dave Heffernan for McElroy (52), Peter Dooley for Buckley (67), Jack Aungier for Bealham (67), Niall Murray for D Murray (63), JJ Hanrahan for Carty (67), Shane Jennings for Bolton (78)
Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
AR 1: Frank Murphy (IRFU) AR 2: Joy Neville (IRFU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
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Jesus Christ people need to lighten up.
@Guill Ire: snowflake generation
@Pj Windgapp: agreed the snowflake generation call it “tone deaf” when its actuality it’s f*cking dumb as it comes
@Pj Windgap: me bollox
@Boganity: youre a snowflake generation
As a member of the “Non Running Community” I am offended that we were excluded from the apology.
@Padraig Corcoran: buy a pair of runners and try to assimilate
People are way too easily offended.
@Ciara Baines: yes correct, who aren’t white, male and a boomer like your good self
Cue people getting offended that other people were offended; “wah, wah, wah, snowflakes need to get over their trauma, PC is ruining my life, boo hoo”
@Karen Wellington: let me put it in context…ffs I’m kidding myself, no one can cut through that level of prejudice…as you where !
@Karen Wellington: Cue someone complaining about people complaining.
@Eamonn Sheen: yep, that’s what I already said……
@Karen Wellington: Karen has been offended by people getting offended that other people were offended.
@TeaRex: have I offended you somehow?
@Karen Wellington: No Karen. You are the tired cliche that always appears to make the same boring comment.
@Eamonn Sheen: I agree, the term ‘snowflake’ is a cliché, but that’s not my doing.
Ha, people really do go out of their way to find offence in everything. What is interesting is what has caused this shift in attitudes. Thanks internet.
@Scundered: it all started when Fr Ted was almost shamed into saying they all have lovely bottoms.
…and United Airlines are now off the hook…
@OU812: till the neck-minute
I Think people were offended as the email seemed to make light of an act of terror that happened only a few years ago. If it happened on our doorstep and something like this emerged from adidas everybody would be up in arms over it .
@Ronan McDermott: i think everyone knows why people got offended. No need to explain.
@Ronan McDermott: It’s not so long ago that 29 people died in Omagh, yet you don’t see the Irish go ape-sh!t over the fact that, on Paddy’s Day, the Americans serve a drink called an Irish Car Bomb.
They serve the car bomb every day , not just paddys day. Not only in the us but other countries too. Adidas advertised this in the us and specifically to the runners in this years marathon . Nobody serves csr bomb drinks in Ireland , only abroad
@Ronan McDermott: Nobody serves Car Bomb drinks in Ireland, only abroad” I’m not sure why this makes it OK in your eyes? There are millions of Irish living in America.
I don’t like the fact that the yanks have named an alcoholic drink after some of the most awful atrocities in the history of the troubles, but I’ll get over it (despite losing a relative to an IRA bomb). In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal. I think there’s a huge big deal being made out of nothing here.
That’s the great thing about social media – it gives people a chance to be outraged about things that they aren’t outraged about in the hope that they can get a few ‘likes’. Sigh.
@Big Red: I’m outraged by your comment
Political correctness is getting out of hand. What are our kids going to be like if it keeps going?? I think I might invest in cotton wool stocks.
Do you really think it was a ‘mistake’? More likely a cynical marketing ploy to get the company name in the headlines.
I very much doubt that’s true.
So Liberals have dropped all pretense, and have started flat out silencing any sort of reminder of Islamic terror.
@George Orwell: You’re like a broken record. This “liberal” thinks that the apology was ridiculous and uncalled for. I would suggest that most “liberals” would agree that this is political correctness gone mad!!
@Soccer T’s: the term liberal is ridiculous anyway, most so called liberals i know have various views on multiple topics, some liberal, some more conservative. The world is more nuanced than you seem to think Soccer Ts, its not as simple as liberals and conservatives. Grow up.
@Soccer T’s: sorry that comment was for George Orwell
We live in the age of accountability in our pockets,it doesn’t mean that companies cant hide wrong doing ,they just get better at it, everything is open to questioning and scrutiny by our phones,even dancing skills..
What’s wrong with saying that? A marathon is a grueling event and well done to all participate and manage to finish. People need to cop on and stop being so sensitive about the way things are said. PC gone bonkers.
0 chill
This isn’t about oversensitive snowflakes being outraged about a non-pc missive. This is about a marketing department being thick, about people in positions that they are obviously too stupid to hold. And we can all think of examples of that. The only question is how did they get there?
It was a mistake – cop the f*ck on.
Whoever created that email is so fired.
Resiliency? Illiteracy more like. Whatever happened to bog standard resilience?
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