United Rugby Championship: Munster 18 Ulster 13
Ulster fell to a third defeat in four URC outings after a five-point loss to Munster at Thomond Park on Saturday night.
Alex Kendellen’s try with just four minutes left on the clock sealed the win for Johan Van Graan’s side that had looked unlikely as early as the 15th minute.
After two weeks of inactivity due to a Covid-19 outbreak in the squad, Ulster surprised many onlookers with their fast and aggressive start, and Rob Herring’s try after just eight minutes gave them their just rewards.
Ulster then gained a numerical advantage on 15 minutes when Munster winger Simon Zebo was red carded after a high challenge on Ulster full back Michael Lowry.
Up until this point Dan McFarland’s side had totally bossed the game and were forcing their hosts into a catalogue of errors, but Zebo’s dismissal only ignited a fire in the belly of the hosts, and lead by the inspirational Tadhg Beirne, Munster controlled much of the game from here on into the final whistle.
Speaking afterwards head coach McFarland sensed something turning in the Munster ranks following the red card incident and his fears came to realisation.
"When Munster got their red card, you just got that gut feeling that they're suddenly going to fire up and play backs against the wall stuff and be really good. And that's how it turned out.”
Approaching half-time Munster were battering the Ulster line but were forced to settle for two penalties from Jack Crowley before a penalty from Nathan Doak, a 24th minute replacement for John Cooney, helped Ulster to a four-point half time advantage, 10-6.
On 59 minutes came another major talking point.
Kieran Treadwell’s tip tackle on Shane Daley saw referee Mike Adamson brandish a yellow card and for the next 10 minutes it was 14 v 14 in playing personnel. The Ulster second row maybe a little fortunate that the card was not another colour.
Just two minutes later and Munster were back in the game.
Craig Casey’s rocket of a pass found full back Mike Haley in acres of space out wide and he touched down in the corner.
Ulster continued to have plenty of possession in the final quarter but poor decision making and game management allowed Munster to stay in contention and as the visitors began to tire, the hosts found another gear before snatching the win at the death.
While Ulster could easily be forgiven for pointing blame of defeat on their recent Covid issues, McFarland wasn’t using this as an excuse as Ulster’s wait for a win in Limerick enters its eighth year.
“We’ve got no excuses there,” said McFarland.
"Lots of teams have had the same kind of situation and I thought we had a pretty good week's preparation. We had some pretty good players out on the park tonight and I thought we deservedly lost.
"I thought they (Munster) were really good, they played really well. I thought they had lots of energy. When I say energy, I mean proper full on take it to you and I thought they played really well. And in some areas of the game, we didn't match that.
"It was very difficult conditions out there but we did get a handle on the game in the second half for a period where we were controlling territory quite nicely. We have a couple of decisions in there and a couple of poor executions in terms of playing that territory game and ended up conceding field position. That’s not where we wanted to be.
“On the other side of the coin, we had our opportunities to score in the first half in their 22 and we didn't take them.”
Ulster now have a week to lift themselves before travelling to play Northampton in next Sunday’s Champions Cup tie.
