Ulster Record 36-17 Victory Over Munster to Reach Final Four.

Little did they know it at the time, but Peter O’Mahony’s knock on from the kick off would be a moment that could encapsulate Munster’s night at The Kingspan. From the off, Munster struggled with handling errors which would prove costly from the first second, to the last. Whilst Munster continued to fumble the ball and squander some promising chances (apart from Keith Earls because, well, he’s Keith Earls), Ulster stepped up their clinical nature, which I think has been lacking this season. Now I know Ulster have given away the fewest penalties in the league (as of last week anyway), but I’m not necessarily talking about handling errors or poor discipline. I’m more talking about making the right moves at the right time, keeping up the intensity and keeping the foot on the throat. Ulster did all this on Friday.

Iain Henderson was really the heartbeat of this attitude. Very early on, Henderson can be seen being his aggressive, prickly best as he holds Gavin Coombes leg, not letting him go, just for enough time to annoy him but nowhere near worthy of a penalty. It’s a micro moment, easy to pass over, but it was several moments like this that aided the first Ulster try. By no means was the first try planned, it might not have even been a scenario that has been covered in training. However, make no mistake, Henderson knew that if he could frustrate Munster, there was going to be a moment where they could take advantage of it. As the whistle is blown after an advantage to Ulster goes nowhere, Kendellen goes for the ball and lightly bumps Henderson. If you could see a close-up of Henderson’s face at that moment his eyes probably lit up. A bit of pushing and shoving between the two ensues and draws in 5 Munster players plus Farrell who is about to join the fray before realising what is happening, but he’s too late to stop anything. At the moment Hume taps the ball, there are only 6 Munster players on the line, paying attention to anything other than the scrap. These six players can only be spread so much across the try line and Hume easily pops it out to Cooney to dot down (and on his 100th cap for his adopted province no less).

This try set a tone for the game, much like the kick off. As professional and resilient as the Munster players are, of course, there’s bound to be an element of frustration there, that the opening portion of the game had gone so poorly. A frustrated team is not likely to play their best rugby.

Not long after the try, Iain Henderson gets himself in a dodgy position at the ruck, about to pick up the ball when he’s told to leave it. Instead, he waits for Murray to pick up the ball then tackles him and knocks the ball out of his hands. Whether it was legal or not, I’m not sure, but Henderson has proven himself to be one of the best at playing the referee. Whether we like it or not, what the referee says is okay, is okay. Henderson listens to this acutely and plays accordingly.

For all my criticism of Munster, in fairness, they’re next to get on the scoreboard. They tie it up at 7-7 through Kleyn who scored a weird try, perfectly suited to this game. After a scrum, Munster batter away in the Ulster 22 for about two and a half minutes before the ball is popped onto Kleyn’s boot by Kendellen which bounces up perfectly into his hands for him to score right under the posts. It’s nothing flashy but it’s hard work and a little bit of luck that concocted a well deserved 7 points.

Only a few minutes later, Munster find themselves again in the Ulster 22 with a 2 on 1 situation and an absolute heap of space. Murray whips the ball past the forwards into Haley’s hands, to O’Mahony to Carbery. Great speed and great execution to take advantage of an overlap. When the ball gets into Carbery’s hands, he has the serial finisher, Earls, outside him and only Baloucoune in a realistic position to make a tackle. Haley does well to draw in the last defender (I believe it was Hume) before Baloucoune and give the two outside him the space. Baloucoune reads the play perfectly, however, and even before the ball leaves Haley’s hands, he’s shooting up to nail Carbery. He gives no time to get the ball through the hands because he knows if he does, it’s a certain 5 points. Balcoucoune smashes him and gets the turnover to boot.

From that penalty, Ulster kick to just past the halfway and set up one of their most fluid, impressive team tries of the season. Every player, from 9-15 gets their hands on the ball during this play and all make an impact. Much like the tackle and turnover, however, Baloucoune is the chief architect of the moment. The break he makes, splitting defenders and opening up space is a huge reason why the try happened. The turnaround time is also something to behold; Baloucoune makes the tackle at 22:38, Ulster score the follow up try at 24 minutes. Just about a minute and 20 seconds from Munster having a 2 on 1 in the Ulster 22, to Ulster going over the line.

In the minutes following, Ulster dot down for another through Stewart Moore once again. Surprise, surprise: another weird try. Ulster get an overlap formed but Keith Earls mirrors Baloucoune and shuts it down with a fantastic hit on Moore. Ulster move left then back right, forming an overlap again, albeit a much more narrow one. Earls is nearly the hero again, as he was all day for Munster, but Moore manages to get the ball down with no separation. It was a close call, but if by the rules no separation means a try, it was absolutely a try. Another well worked team try with some individual brilliance sprinkled in there. At this point, just 30 odd minutes into the match, Ulster find themselves up 19-7, a 12-score difference already forcing Munster’s hand and ensuring 2 converted tries needed to take a lead.

Just before halftime, Henderson shows again why he’s the captain and how he leads by example. Earls makes a break down the right wing and gets a kick away, wonderfully balanced to sit up just in front of the Ulster try line. With Earls and Conway chasing, Henderson kicks into top gear, passes Billy Burns, who is also chasing back, and drops on the ball. But he doesn’t settle for just gathering the ball. With Conway on his back, he pops straight back up and drives to make room for Cooney to utilise the pack a bit before making the clearance.

Again, only a minute or two after kick off in the second half, Munster make a mistake as Cooney is tackled off the ball in his own half, giving Ulster the penalty. Burns kicks pretty well, getting into the Munster half and once again from a Munster error and a lineout Ulster are able to secure a try. The McCloskey/Hume super duo spring into action, the 12 doing what he does best in drawing in defenders and popping the ball away to Hume in space, with De Allende expecting the ball to go through the hands he doesn’t even get to attempt a tackle on Hume. He makes plenty of ground before veering and looking right only to pass the ball left as Conway buys the swerve and leaves Timoney open to run it in.

Moments later, with Ulster pinned on their try line, Cooney attempts a clearing kick, but Coombes does exceptionally well to charge down the kick and jump on top of it with Burns trying to cover. Unfortunately, whilst very similar to Moore’s earlier grounding, there is clear separation between Coombes arm and the ball before he actually manages to ground it. In this case the rugby cliché, “small margins”, was absolutely the case.

The next try that came at around 53 minutes was an absolute screamer by the best player on the Munster team that night, Keith Earls. With a ruck, right on the Ulster line Craig Casey shoots a fast and accurate balls into Earls hands who dives out of out of play but somehow keeps the ball in one hand to ground it perfectly. On a night where Munster were definitely not firing on all cylinders, this man was a saving grace. He really showed exactly why he’s been playing at the top level all these years and exactly why his contract was extended not all that long ago. He truly plays some beautiful rugby. I was at the match and even all the revved-up Ulster supporters took a moment to appreciate just what he had done. Well deserved.

Ulster’s last try came at 60 minutes, already 17 points ahead, off the back of a ruck in the Munster 22. Doak ships to Burns, Burns ships to Hume and Hume, as always, spots a gap. He puts the head down, has that confidence in himself that McFarland has honed and reigned as appropriate and even through he’s caught and stumbles about 5 meters out he presses on and gets the ball down. With Andy Farrell and Paul O’Connell posting up at The Kingspan on Friday, he certainly put forward a great representation of himself with a try to top it all off.

At this point, with 36 on the scoreboard, Ulster had scored their last try of the game. If I had known that watching it live, I would have felt like I was in some recurring nightmare about Ulster refusing to play in the last 20 minutes of a game and just conceding point after point, but this didn’t happen. The Ulster we’ve seen so many times who can’t tighten up the last 20 were not the Ulster playing against Munster. Ulster only conceded one well worked, and well deserved try by… what’s his name? I haven’t mentioned him yet I don’t think, oh yes, Keith Earls. Again, finding space outside the defenders and touching down for 5 points.

In almost poetic fashion, Henderson is the man to close out the game. Just after the clock drifts into the red Matty Rea makes a tackle, immediately moving away for the Captain to swoop in, turn the ball over, and present it beautifully for Doak to boot it into the stands.

Ulster move on to face the Stormers in South Africa after their 36-17 victory over their provincial counterparts, Munster. It’s a huge hill to climb and by all accounts Ulster are the underdogs here. But for better or worse when have Ulster performed? When they’re not expected to win. Ulster don’t handle being favourites well, and this needs to change considering the whole “Top 3 for a lot of this year and competing in the final 4” situation. But it bodes well for this match. They know that realistically they beat the Stormers last time, despite what the scoreboard said, and they can do it again.