Ulster powered their way to a 38-17 win over Munster in Round 10 of the Guinness Pro14 at Ravenhill Stadium on Friday.
The bonus-point win sees the hosts, second in Conference A, continue to apply pressure on leaders Leinster and maintain a healthy state of confidence at an important period in the season.
Image Copyright – Steve Haag Sports
For the inconsistent Munster, the result could well see them relinquish their spot at the summit of Conference A.
With close to 17,000 in attendance, the game was a virtual sell-out following both coaches’ decisions to name near full-strength sides.
The weekend marked the final round of Pro14 action until later this month ahead of a fortnight of important Champions Cup fixtures to come.
In spite of the absence of the industrious Marcell Coetzee, Ulster totally bossed the physical exchanges as they tirelessly battered into their old foes time and again.
After losing the battle up front, Munster didn’t seem to have a proper Plan B and couldn’t come up with any meaningful answers when it mattered.
Despite this, Shane Daly opened the scoring for Munster after a swift first phase move following a scrum deep inside Ulster territory.
John Cooney hit back with a penalty before finishing off a top-class try following a break out wide.
It wasn’t long before Ulster set up camp inside Munster’s half and steadily began to assume control of the contest.
They were able to add a second try before the break as Robert Baloucoune finished off in the corner to cap off his side’s dominance.
Joey Carbery nailed a late penalty, though, as the hosts led 17-10 at halftime.
Matty Rea burst through the opposition defence to score Ulster’s third less than three minutes into the second-half, before Ian MacFarland’s men added further tries to Man of the Match Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale – the latter via a handsome intercept.
Niall Scannell scored a consolation effort from the back of a driving maul, but their evening was perhaps summed up when Chris Cloete was shown a yellow card for an off-the-ball dump.
Kyle McCall received a late yellow himself, but it didn’t mean much by then.
Scores
Ulster –
Tries: Cooney, Baloucoune, Rea, McCloskey, Stockdale
Cons: Cooney (5)
Pen: Cooney
Yellow card: Kyle McCall
Munster –
Tries: Daly, Scannell
Cons: Carbery (2)
Pen: Carbery
Yellow card: Chris Cloete
Teams
Ulster: 15 Will Addison, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale; 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney; 1 Jack McGrath, 2 Rob Herring, 3 Marty Moore, 4 Alan O’Connor, 5 Iain Henderson (C), 6 Matthew Rea, 7 Sean Reidy, 8 Nick Timoney.
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Kyle McCall, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 David O’Connor, 20 Greg Jones, 21 David Shanahan, 22 Bill Johnston, 23 Craig Gilroy.
Munster: 15 Shane Daly, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Conor Murray, 1 Jeremy Loughman, 2 Niall Scannell, 3 Keynan Knox, 4 Fineen Wycherley, 5 Darren O’Shea, 6 Peter O’Mahony (C), 7 Jack O’Donoghue, 8 Arno Botha.
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Gavin Coombes, 20 Jack O’Sullivan, 21 Neil Cronin, 22 Dan Goggin, 23 Chris Cloete.
