By Rob Murphy @ Knockon.ie
April 27 2011

The report card on Connacht’s season will wait for another two weeks but this game told us a lot about where the province stands after year one of the Eric Elwood era. Ulster’s class and experience told in the final ten minutes here but a ferocious display from the visiting pack at Ravenhill will have given the westerners hope.

Link: http://www.knockon.ie/?p=6037

Overall a review will probably show that Elwood’s men are progressing in areas where they had been stuck in neutral for years. That’s good, they have jumped one place on last year in the table and the average tries for and against have both improved considerably. A bucket load of hard earned bonus points and a competitive edge in every game all adds up to hope.

Yet this game also showed the negatives, the lack of depth in key positions, the significant loss that some of the leaving stars will be, especially Hagan at tighhead. In the backline Connacht haven’t moved forward enough, Troy Nathan’s selection at twelve continues to baffle most observers, he’s as committed and honest as you could hope for but struggles to impose himself in the roll.

Yet overall there is a feeling that Connacht are fronting up and the confidence in the camp is higher than ever before. They were hammered on their last tow visits to Beflast but on this occasion they were the better team for an hour. The missing link seems to be that bit more depth in the squad and that comes down to resources.

Ulster exploded out of the blocks and struck first with a great try from Rory Best. After a good drive from Jerry Cronin, Humphreys passed back inside to set Adam D’Arcy away. The full back drew the cover and supplied Cave who did likewise to allow Rory Best score under the posts. Humphreys added the extras.

The response from Connacht was hugely encouraging as they didn’t let such a simple blow set them back and answered by winning the restart and setting up an attack that led to a well struck drop goal from Ian Keatley.

Thoughts from the home side that an easy afternoon was in store were disspating although they were almost in for a second try only for Ian Humphrey’s kick through to be charged down by Mike McCarthy. Fionn Carr almost broke clear when he collected the rebound only for Darren Cave to make an vital and probably try saving tackle as the Connacht winger had an open field to attack.

Dan McFarland will be especially pleased with counter-rucking of the Connacht pack throughout the first half and one such example resulted in a penalty which Keatley was unable to convert from long range.

The Connacht pack were well on top in the first half, the excellent Johnny O’Connor and man of the match Mike McCarthy led the way while the return of John Muldoon was having an impact. There hard work created another half chance which ended with Troy Nathan’s cross-kick to Eoin Griffin which was asking a little much of the winger

Niva Ta’auso picked up an eye injury soon after and while he was down injured Ulster craft a score out of nothing in a virtual length-of-the-field move. The 42 time South African capped Ruan Pienaar took a quick tap from a penalty in Ulster’s 22 and his break led to Humphreys skinning Cronin just over half way with the pass releasing D’Arcy to run in with Humphreys converting.

Yet another sign of the improved character in the Connacht side was on show when they orchestrated a late attack in the first half to score a crucial penalty to get it back to 14-6 at the break and then added to that early in the second half.

Humphreys put Ulster eight points clear with a 48th-minute penalty but that just sparked Connacht into live and after a lineout steal Keatley took out two tacklers to offload to Cronin who had run a superb line and the Leinster bound hooker ran in from just outside the 22. Keatley’s conversion brought Connacht to within a point.

Crucially however this is where Ulster found their reserves in terms of energy and personnel. Prop Brian Young was sprung from the bench to great effect while Robbie Diack also added a spark. Connacht also made changes but Rodney Ah You in particular struggled and the scrum, which had been the platform of everything good, was no longer a positive for the visitors.

One crucial scrum in prime position in the Ulster 22 summed up the difference between the sides, Ronan Loughney came on for Brett Wilkinson just before the feed which seemed a strange call and Connacht attacked out wide in a very predicable move that ended with Tiernan O’Halloran being bundled into touch.

The whole move was naive and clearly highlighted that Connacht had frozen with the lead insight. Such scenarios need to be conquered if Eric Elwood’s men are to take the next step and start to win some of the bigger games.

Ulster responded to all that with Nevin Spence, Cave and Best making inroads. Humphreys kicked a penalty soon after before a late try from Darren Cave as the Connacht drift defence from a scrum was badly caught out sealed the win and robbed Connacht of a bonus point. Some positives, some negatives but a big improvement on the Cardiff display.

Interviews:

McCarthy Reflects On 'Massively Disappointing' Defeat

Elwood: We Got The Performance, Not The Result

Scorers:

Ulster:
Tries: Best, Cave, D'Arcy
Cons: Humphreys 3
Pens: Humphreys 2

Connacht:
Tries: Cronin
Cons: Keatley
Pens: Keatley 2
Drops: Keatley

Ulster: 15 Adam D'Arcy, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Nevin Spence, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Willie Fallon, 6 Chris Henry, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller 3 Jerry Cronin, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Paddy McAllister
Replacements: 16 Andy Kyriacou, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Tim Barker, 20 Robbie Diack, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 C Gaston.

Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Eoin Griffin, 13 Niva Ta'auso, 12 Troy Nathan, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 John Muldoon, 7 Johnny O'Connor (c), 6 Mike McCarthy, 5 Bernie Upton, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Brett Wilkinson
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Andrew Browne, 20 Mike McComish, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Miah Nikora, 23 Tiernan O'Halloran

Referee: JP Doyle 

Ulster 26 - 16 Connacht - Connacht’s Ups and Downs

Discussion started by Connacht Rugby Supporters (IP Logged), 27/04/2011 15:06

Connacht Rugby Supporters
27/04/2011 15:06

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lgwt@castlebar
27/04/2011 15:55

Lot of positives to take from this. Overall the changes to both front rows swung the game to Ulster in the last twenty minutes as we coughed three full penalties in the scrum in quick succession. Entertaining game though.

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ummm,
28/04/2011 10:50

HagAn!!!!! What is it with poor Jamie that everyone wants to spell his name Hagen?

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lgwt@castlebar
28/04/2011 11:40

Quote:

ummm,
HagAn!!!!! What is it with poor Jamie that everyone wants to spell his name Hagen?

It was a failed ploy to prevent other sides looking for his signature. It was officially known as Operation Cunning Plan.

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