Bit late getting this up but we’ve clocked up 17 hours driving, 6 hours watching rugby, 5 hours partying in Galway, 6 hours editing photos, 2 hours making ads and about 12 hours sleeping this weekend so it was difficult to sit down and write up a report! 🙂 To make matters worse all three of this weekend’s featured teams lost, but onwards and upwards! 

Connacht v Ulster was our first featured match and we’d predicted a “difficult” win for Ulster with our boys pulling away in the last quarter. 

For much of the match it looked as though it might just go that way, but in the end Connacht were just too motivated and they denied Ulster the chance to steal it in the end. 

As we watched the game from the Bohermore Terrace it was obvious that Connacht were up for this one from the start. Wave after wave of attack came our way and the home players looked to be about 30% sharper at the breakdown as they got off to the best of starts with outhalf Jack Carty crossing for a try after four minutes, which he duly converted. 

Ulster got a fingerhold in the game but they were working off mostly back foot ball and looked laboured and clumsy in comparison . However a period of pressure in the Connacht half resulted in a penalty from Paddy Jackson to take the score to 7 – 3 after six minutes. 

Two quick tries at the start of the second quarter pushed the game firmly in Connacht’s favour as Cian Kelleher and James Connolly crossed within minutes, Carty converted the second to give the home side a 19 – 3 lead. Sloppy defence from Ulster for the second but Kelleher’s was a well worked effort from the Westies who opted to play with the ball in hand as often as they could. 

It was a high risk tactic as they chose to move the ball in their own 22 and after getting themselves in a bit of bother in their own territory, which resulted in prop Conor Carey receiving a yellow card, Ulster finally found some go forward which resulted in Craig Gilroy crossing out wide. It was too wide for Jackson to knock over the conversion but with the score at 19 – 8 as we approached half time I found myself starting to believe my prediction again! 

However, Carty still had time to knock over a penalty before the break and at 22 – 8, as the teams turned round, it looked a big ask for Ulster. 

A golden period from our boys, just after the restart brought the score to 22 – 22 with Rory Best and Jared Payne both touching down, Jackson converted both but rather than Connacht fade, as I had predicted, they looked to finish out the game the stronger. 

Kelleher crossed for his second before the third quarter was out and Carty added a penalty, on the hour mark, to take the score to 30 – 22 with twenty minutes left. 

Still plenty of time for Ulster to respond but they were too laboured and were outfought at the breakdown as Connacht refused to lie down. Jackson added a penalty on the 66th minute to make it a tense final 14 minutes but the hosts held on reasonably comfortably for their win. 

Final Score: Connacht 30 Ulster 25. 

Ulster: Jared Payne, Tommy Bowe, Louis Ludik, Darren Cave, Craig Gilroy, Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall, Callum Black, Rory Best, Rodney Ah You, Robbie Diack, Pete Browne, Ian Henderson, Clive Ross, Roger Wilson. Replacements: Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Ross Kane, Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, David Shanahan, Brett Herron, Rob Lyttle. 

So Ulster’s series of win’s came to an end, beaten by a team who wanted it more and were prepared to put in that bit more effort. From the Ulster point of view it’s perhaps no bad thing the week before European competition starts.