Ulster 23 Connacht 7
At least Storm Barbara seemed to have done its worst by the time the sides had taken the field at a bitterly cold but still wind-swept Kingspan Stadium, and the conditions shaped the fare on show as Ulster muscled their way to an all-important Pro12 victory.
The result which saw Les Kiss’s side rise to fourth in the table, before most of this round’s games are played next week in the aftermath of Christmas, was hugely valuable for the northern province and brought them a second straight league win after the recent back-to-back European games.
Getting off to an ideal start for the first weekend of festive interpros will have boosted morale at the Kingspan though Connacht, who have not won in Belfast since 1960, got no return from last week’s dramatic Champions Cup win over Wasps and, badly hit by injuries, struggled throughout.
Though neither side, so far, have exactly set the Pro12 alight this season the pressure to produce was more keenly felt by Les Kiss’ squad for whom this was the first two consecutive league successes they had managed since the start of October.
The home side built up a useful 13-0 lead at the break when playing with the wind behind them with McCloskey’s 26th minute try one of the few standout moments of a mistake-ridden half.
They then made sure with flanker Clive Ross’s 52nd minute try and Jackson came away from the game having kicked both conversions and three penalties while the westerners’ only points came from a Jack Carty try and conversion.
The psychological importance of Ulster putting their Clermont experience behind them a mere five days after seeing their European hopes ship seemingly terminal damage was also paramount and, especially so, with a trip to meet Leinster at the RDS – pretty much a graveyard for Ulster – to come on New Year’s Eve when Kiss is not expected to have Rory Best, Paddy Jackson and Iain Henderson available.
Playing into the strong wind, Connacht tried to mix their game up with Jack Carty trying an early chip over the top and Kieran Marmion breaking open from the side of a ruck, but both sides were, naturally enough in the conditions, guilty of a high error rate with forward passes and knock-ons aplenty.
At least Ulster started by winning two early Connacht lineouts as well as winning the first scrum against the head, and they also had the first opportunity for points after Dave Heffernan had strayed offside with Paddy Jackson bisecting the posts after 20 minutes.
Six minutes later and Ulster had a try which came out of a quickly moved ball off an Iain Henderson lineout take, with Jacob Stockdale on the loop and his pass put Charles Piutau into space.
A quick clear out after Piutau was brought down after Ulster had swept into the westerners 22 saw Ruan Pienaar go blind to put Stuart McCloskey over unopposed in the corner.
Jackson’s superb conversion put Ulster 10-0 up and this became 13-0 on 36 minutes after Connacht failed to roll away after Louis Ludik took the ball into contact and there were no further scores in the opening half which had seen Connacht lose Finlay Bealham and Danie Poolman to injury.
Ulster started the second half strongly with a run by Piutau resulting in Pienaar grubbering for Luke Marshall only for Marmion to scramble back.
From the five-metre scrum, Ulster launched McCloskey before a Pienaar dart saw him go over only for the score to be ruled out as the South African was held up.
Still, Ulster struck from the next set-piece when, after again putting McCloskey on a charge, flanker Clive Ross drove over near the posts. Jackson converted and the home side now led 20-0.
Connacht, though, struck back on 55 minutes when Jack Carty got over following a Matt Healy break and the out-half then added the extras to his own score.
Then eight minutes after the hour, Jackson nailed his third penalty after Ulster had won the chance off a scrum.
The game ended as it had begun with scrappy play and dropped balls and there was no further scoring though, worryingly for Pat Lam, Connacht shipped more injuries with Ultan Dillane going off injured late on and the westerners finished with 14 men.
Scorers – Ulster: Tries: S McCloskey, C Ross; Cons: P Jackson 2; Pens: P Jackson 3. Connacht: Tries: J Carty; Cons: J Carty 1.
ULSTER: C Piutau, L Ludik, L Marshall, S McCloskey, J Stockdale, P Jackson, R Pienaar; A Warwick, R Best (capt), R Ah You, K Treadwell, I Henderson, C Ross, C Henry, R Wilson. Replacements: S Reidy for Wilson half-time, D Cave for L Marshall 52 mins, P Marshall for Pienaar 54mins, C Black for Warwick 57mins , W Herbst for Ah You 57mins , R Herring for Best 66 mins , F van der Merwe for Ross 67mins , T Bowe for McCloskey 73 mins.
CONNACHT: T O'Halloran, N Adeolokun, R Parata, D Poolman, M Healy, J Carty, K Marmion; D Buckley, D Heffernan, F Bealham, Q Roux, J Cannon, S O'Brien, N Fox-Matamua, J Muldoon (capt). Replacements: JP Cooney for Bealham 26mins, C Gaffney for Poolman 37mins, U Dillane for Roux 54mins, N Dawai for Fox-Matamua 63mins, C Blade for Marmion 65mins, S Delahunt for Heffernan 66mins, E McKeon for Muldoon 66mins, T McCartney for Delahunt 76mins
Referee: G Clancy (IRFU)
