URC: Ulster battle back to beat inter-provincial rivals Munster

Ulster produced a gritty second half comeback to secure a famous inter-provincial victory over reigning URC champions Munster at the Kingspan.

Behind early on as Craig Casey grabbed a pair of tries, they battled back and dominated the second half, with Nick Timoney adding to Jacob Stockdale's first half try and Nathan Doak accurate with his boot as Dan McFarland's side claimed a deserved result.

It took the visitors less than 10 minutes to opening the scoring and it came off the back off a series of unforced errors from Ulster.

After Jacob Stockdale knocked on as he tried to keep a kick in play, it led to a sustained spell of pressure from Graham Rowntree’s men.

As they edged closer to the line, Craig Casey found the gap to cross over and Jack Crowley had the simplest of tasks to convert.

Ulster looked destined to hit back almost immediately as they surged forward and when Ethan McIlroy powered towards the line, he was held up by a heavy – and pretty high – tackle from Shane Daly.

It was a worrying scene as McIlroy stayed down for a long time, before eventually being able to walk off the pitch as he was replaced by Jude Postlethwaite, with Stewart Moore moving to centre. Daly was yellow carded as Nathan Doka converted the penalty, but Munster made light work of their number deficiency to score a second try soon afterwards.

Again it was Casey who spotted a gap and weak Ulster tackling allowed him over, with Crowley again converting to make it 1-7 to the visitors with less than a quarter of an hour gone.

Ulster hit back with a beautifully worked try on 27 minutes as they moved the ball at pace across the pitch and back, before eventually creating the opening.

Billy Burns’ inch-perfect kick to the left sat up perfectly for Jacob Stockdale to collect and go over in the corner. However, Doak appeared to miskick his conversion as it dropped short.

The remainder of the first half became a scrappy affair somewhat, with the home support growing increasingly irate at the officiating of Referee Frank Murphy.

But Ulster knew they needed to lift their game another level in the second period and they got back to within three points of the visitors seven minutes as Doak knocked over his second penalty of the night to make it 14-11.

He was at it again on 64 minutes to draw Ulster level for the first time in the match.

After Stephen Archer was penalised just inside the Munster half, Doak opted to kick and converted a long-range effort to make it 14 apiece as Ulster got their tails up.

Knowing they would have to withstand some late Munster pressure. the Ulster defence stood up manfully in the final stages.

The visitors were held up right on the line and then, with the clock stopped on 80 minute, Munster's Ben O'Connor broke clear. He was stopped before he could get to the line and when the referee's whistle went for the award of an Ulster penalty, a packed Kingspan erupted as Jake Flannery kicked the ball out of play to seal a fine victory.

MATCH STATS

Ulster: O’Sullivan, Stewart (C), McGrath, Izuchukwu, Treadwell, McCann, Rea, Timoney, Doak, Burns, Stockdale, McCloskey, Moore, Baloucoune, McIlroy

Replacements: Herring for McGrath (50 mins), Reid, Wilson for Stewart (50mins), Henderson for Izuchukwu (50 mins), Ewers for Rea (60 mins), Cooney for Doak (70 mins), Flannery for Burns (73 mins), Postlethwaite for McIlroy (15 mins)

Munster: Loughman, Barron (C), Ryan, Edogbo, Wycherley, Kendellen, Hodnett, Coombes, Casey, Crowley, O’Brien, Nankivell, Frisch, Nash, Daly

Replacements: Buckley for Barron (53 mins), J Wycherley for Loughman (51 mins), Archer for Ryan (51 mins), Ahern for Edogbo (51 mins), Gleeson for Kendellen (51mins), Patterson for Casey (73 mins), Scannell for Nankivell (61 mins), O’Connor for O’Brien (68 mins)

Referee: Frank Murphy

Tries

Ulster: Jacob Stockdale, Nick Timoney

Munster: Craig Casey (2)

Conversions

Ulster: Nathan Doak

Munster: Jack Crowley (2)

Penalties

Ulster: Nathan Doak (3)

Munster: