[tag=image]http://www.munsterrugby.ie/images/conte ... est-02.gif[/tag][tag=content]On a cold, wet and windy night at Thomond Park, Ulster’s fringe players produced a spectacular performance to inflict Munster’s second home defeat of the season, triumphing 19-17.
It appeared that the team were galvanised by the fact that they were written off beforehand by pundits and fans alike, but a try from Michael Heaney and fourteen points from the boot of man-of-the-match James McKinney saw the visitors take all four points.
Tries from Duncan Williams and Sean Dougall were not enough for the hosts to prevent their northern rivals from doing the double over them this season and condemn them to an away semi-final.
Leinster’s win over Edinburgh means Ulster will now travel to the RDS next Saturday to contest their semi-final, as they were already guaranteed fourth spot.
However the night was not perfect for Mark Anscombe’s men as he watched Nick Williams be stretchered off late in the first half, another injury worry ahead of next week’s game.
The wind and the rain did affect the crowd which was disappointingly poor at Thomond Park, and the 16,000 intrepid fans who did make the journey watched as Ian Keatley gave Munster an early lead from the kicking tee.
In the early stages, everything pointed towards the game going as predicted as some clever hands on the wing sent away scrum-half Duncan Williams who crossed for the opening try of the evening.
Not to be outdone by his opposite number though, Michael Heaney silenced the crowd with a break of his own, and despite the covering tacklers’ best efforts the Ulster half-back stretched and scored.
The try was completely against the run of play and the scoreboard did not reflect Munster’s dominance on the pitch with Dave Foley excelling at the line-out, stealing three Ulster throws.
That said, the Munstermen could not make that advantage pay and Ulster were ones who were threatening the scoreboard more with several drives at the line, although they could have easily been level had McKinney not turned down two simple kicks at goal to go for the corner.
One of those endeavours into the Munster 22 saw the end of Williams’ night as he was carted off the pitch on a stretcher with suspected knee ligament damage – another tale of injury woe for the Ravenhill outfit.
On came Conor Joyce in the Kiwi’s absence, and on went Ulster, undeterred by the big number eight’s departure as McKinney levelled the scores going into half time with his second penalty.
If going in at half-time didn’t surprise the Thomond Park faithful, then McKinney’s third penalty shortly after the restart would have hit them for six as the visitors took the lead for the first time in the game.
However, parity was seemingly restored less than a minute later as Rory Scholes failed to hold onto the restart and Sean Dougall capitalised on a try line mishap by Lewis Stevenson and Sean Doyle to pounce on the bouncing ball and score.
Keatley’s conversion was good and Munster were back in front, 17-13.
In what is very likely to be his last appearance for his province, McKinney continued his flawless kicking display, reducing the gap to just one in the 52nd minute.
He then produced another great kick to give his side what was now a deserved 19-17 lead with just fifteen minutes left to play with the home side and their fans left shell-shocked by the fight being put up by the away side.
This seemed to shock them into action and substitute JJ Hanrahan turned down a kickable penalty to go to the corner in an attempt to try and kill the game off rather than secure the win.
But they were met by a resurgent white wall of defence and despite Munster’s endless attempts to cross the line, every time they were repelled by a player wearing a white shirt – a monumental defensive effort.
The introductions of Conor Murray and Keith Earls by Rob Penney to try and spark Munster into life were ultimately in vain with the former looking surprisingly off-colour with several poor passes from the base of the ruck.
Hanrahan had two late efforts to steal the victory for Munster, but he hooked a drop goal wide and then completely mis hit a penalty from the halfway line with the last kick of the game.
Cue the final whistle, cue joyous celebrations from the Ulstermen – players and fans alike.
The scorers
For Munster
Tries: Williams, Dougall
Cons: Keatley (2)
Pen: Keatley
For Ulster
Try: Heaney
Con: McKinney
Pens: McKinney (4)
MUNSTER RUGBY
(15-9) Felix Jones, Gerhard van den Heever, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Simon Zebo (Keith Earls 52), Ian Keatley (JJ Hanrahan 49), Duncan Williams (Conor Murray 57); (1-8) Dave Kilcoyne (James Cronin 59), Damien Varley, John Ryan, Dave Foley (Billy Holland 76), Paul O’Connell, Paddy Butler, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan (Tommy O’Donnell 52).
Subs not used: Quentin MacDonald, Alan Cotter.
ULSTER RUGBY
(15-9) Craig Gilroy, David McIlwaine, Michael Allen, Stuart McCloskey, Rory Scholes (Peter Nelson 76), James McKinney, Michael Heaney (David Shanahan 73); (1-8) Callum Black, Rob Herring (Kyle McCall 73), Andrew Warwick (Adam Macklin 57), Lewis Stevenson, Dan Tuohy (Neil McComb 51), Mike McComish, Sean Doyle, Nick Williams (Conor Joyce 33).
Subs not used: Bronson Ross, Ricky Andrew.
Man of the Match: James McKinney (Ulster)
Attendance: 16,436
Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)[/tag]
Match Report: Munster Rugby 17-19 Ulster Rugby
Moderator: Moderators
