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Ulster end losing run by beating Connacht

By PA
Galway , Ireland - 28 December 2024; Matty Rea of Ulster and Finlay Bealham of Connacht tussle during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Ulster at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Ulster ended a five-match losing run in all competitions with a dogged 17-7 United Rugby Championship win at Connacht.

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Without an away victory since last May, a converted Eric O’Sullivan try and a Nathan Doak penalty had injury-hit Ulster leading 10-7 at half-time, with Mack Hansen crossing for Connacht.

Nick Timoney, Ulster’s stand-in captain and player-of-the-match, then forced his way over from a 54th-minute maul, condemning error-strewn Connacht to their seventh straight interprovincial derby defeat.

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy handed first starts to his 20-year-old son Jack, whose older brother Ben came off the Connacht bench in the second half, and Rory Telfer.

Both sides were forced into late changes to their line-ups, with Dylan Tierney-Martin and Niall Murray drafted in for Connacht and Kieran Treadwell and John Andrew brought in for the visitors.

James McNabney and Ben Carson stood out during a strong start from Ulster, who pressed initially from a Jack Murphy 50:22 kick. The pressure told when prop O’Sullivan crashed over beside the posts, giving Doak a simple conversion.

Match Summary

0
Penalty Goals
1
1
Tries
2
1
Conversions
2
0
Drop Goals
0
147
Carries
77
2
Line Breaks
2
21
Turnovers Lost
9
5
Turnovers Won
7

A bustling break from McNabney led to Doak extending the lead to 10 points, before Connacht slowly made gains.

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Finlay Bealham ensured the hosts’ scrum got on top but they remained scoreless until the 35th minute.

Jack Carty used a penalty advantage to chip into the Ulster 22, and with the ball bouncing loose off Michael Lowry, the inrushing Hansen gleefully accepted the gift.

Ulster’s impressive work-rate was rewarded during a tight third quarter. Successive penalties gave them a shot at the posts, but they turned it down and Timoney burrowed over from a well-directed maul, with Doak also adding the extras.

Although Bundee Aki and replacement Sean Jansen’s direct running was having an impact, Connacht’s handling errors increased. They also suffered a maul turnover and Cathal Forde kicked a subsequent penalty dead.

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Ulster earned important late penalties in defence – via a five-metre scrum and from a terrier-like Timoney at the breakdown – as the hosts lost successive league matches in Galway for the first time since May 2021.

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Comments

1 Comment
R
RedWarrior 55 days ago

Disastrous result for conaught almost an impossible task to make top 8 now

The fixture may have been overly friendly recently, and connaught appeared to be a bit unstuck by the venom and vitriol from Ulster. Doak had an amzing game shooting out with perfect timing to disrupt onnaught on every attacking phase. On paper connaught should have had this. Well done to Ulster. connaught were suckered a bit.

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JW 3 hours ago
Where is the new breed of All Black 10?

Players like Prendergast and Finn Smith already have a few seasons at top club level under their belt and are now test players, at an age when NZ players make their debuts in SR.

That’s just a difference in standards. You’re confusing SR for being their local domestic comps, where it’s more accurately comparable to Champions Cup, apart from that teams are happy to throw games as it’s in a bit of a limbo in terms of importance atm.


All these kids have been playing for a comparable NPC team for years now. Sam is no where near ready for tests but he has a great temperament, much like Sextons, that makes it a good choice to speed up his development. He wasn’t even a comparable Super Rugby starter before playing for Ireland, so not a great comparison.


Fin would be much better example, but then England don’t have 3 world class Test tens in front of him (not that I’d put Beauden their but obviously in terms of young NZ players chances, he is). Would he otherwise have debuted at the same age as Fergus Burke (injury and leaving withstanding), around 24, a couple of years later? England also aren’t as pedantic to who they give jerseys to, in NZ a test jersey is very hard earned for the most part.


In general I think the effects are as you say, but the only difference is the money involved, as you yourself said, their paths are just as all over the show being loaned out playing for clubs etc. My solution to that, and what you perceive as the problem, would be to introduce university football that utilitizes the large investment they have into high performance sport.

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Jennifer Ross 5 hours ago
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