Ulster crack the Munster code
Sat, 25 Oct 2008 23:19
Wrestling for possession: Ulster
Ulster finally made some inroads into their Magners League campaign on Saturday, toppling Munster with a convincing 22-6 win at Ravenhill, which has lifted them from the basement of the tournament standings.
Ulster's victory, just their second of the season in the Celtic league, sees them move up a couple notches into eighth position behind the Cardiff Blues, whilst Munster remain in pole position despite the defeat.
With the Ulstermen's forwards creating the platform up front, the hosts created time and space for their attacking backline runners to work their magic with a series of line breaks - which included a brace of tries for Fijian Timoci Nagusa.
The scores were locked at 3-3, until Nagusa's first try in the 26th minute revived the Firhill faithful. An Ian Humphreys (who replaced Niall O'Connor in the 12th minute) conversion took the score to 10-3, but this was clouded shortly after when lock Ryan Caldwell received a yellow card.
The Ulstermen showed true grit and character with only 14 players on the pitch, raising their intensity and only conceding three points to the Heineken Cup champions, while Nagusa ran in try number two.
The half-time score was 15-6 in favour of the hosts, and what followed was a scoreless third quarter which saw Ulster make no less than four substitutions.
Isaac Boss broke the silence with a try in the 60th minute, converted by Humphreys, to give the Ulstermen the winning scoreline which they held to the end.
Scorers:
For Ulster:
Tries: Nagusa 2, Boss
Cons: Humphreys 2
Pen: Humphreys
For Munster:
Pens: Warwick 2
Yellow card: Ryan Caldwell (28 mins)
Teams:
Ulster: 15 Bryn Cunningham, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Darren Cave,
12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Cillian Willis, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 David Pollock, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Ed O'Donoghue, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Rory Best (captain), 1 Justin Fitzpatrick.
Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Tom Court, 18 Carlo Del Fava, 19 Tom Anderson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Mark McCrea.
Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Anthony Horgan, 13 Barry Murphy, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Paul Stringer, 8 Justin Melck, 7 John O'Sullivan, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Donncha Ryan, 4 Mick O'Driscoll (captain), 3 Tony Buckley 2 Denis Fogarty, 1 Frederico Pucciariello.
Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Darragh Hurley, 18 Mark Melbourne, 19 James Coughlan, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Jeremy Manning, 22 Keith Lewis.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: David Keane (Ireland), Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
TMO: John Carvill (Ireland)
