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PwC U-18 Interprovincial Series
Connacht U-18 Clubs 12
(Cathal Moffat, Ruben Flynn tries; Dylan Curran con)
Ulster U-18 Clubs 14
(Tyrese Dunlop, James Lennon tries; Sam Harper two cons).
Kevin Egan at Creggs RFC
The width of the post was all that separated the U-18 club sides of Connacht and Ulster at the end of the tremendously entertaining contest at Creggs RFC this afternoon, where the winning and losing of the contest all came down to a 68thminute penalty opportunity for Kaylum Curran.
Standing on the Ulster 10m line after a tackle on Hugo McGowan from an offside position, the strike from Curran on his home club field was clean and initially looked to be on target, but the slightest tail on the shot saw it brush off the right hand post and fly wide of the target.
As a finale, it was a reasonable microcosm of the game as a whole, where Connacht showed no end of ambition and drive, but Ulster had a bit more precision about their play. Sam Harper’s two successful kicks from two attempts – including one from the stand-side sideline – contrasted sharply with Connacht’s return of one successful effort from three attempts, and in several other aspects, Ulster’s execution was slightly superior; a crucial factor in a game where the margin was also slight.
In the set play generally, Ulster’s edge was apparent. Connacht’s return off their own lineout was poor with three overthrows added to Ulster successfully disrupting a handful of other put-ins, while Ulster also got a good shunt on at scrum time, even if Connacht did enough to get the ball out quickly and avoid the concession of turnovers or penalties.
What kept the home side in the game was their quick hands, their willingness to use the full width of the pitch, and the potency of their back line. Like the U-19 game that preceded it, where all bar one of the tries came from forwards, the same applied here with four touchdowns out of four coming from pack player.
But while in the first game of this afternoon’s double header there was very little opportunities for the young men in double digit shirts to show their flair and panache, on this occasion the two sides, but Connacht in particular, wanted to bring their backs into the game and succeeded in doing so.
Most impressive of all, and arguably the player of the match despite finishing on the losing side, was Shane Lally on the left wing.
Ulster got a dream start, winning their kick off and turning the screw with good control in the tight exchanges to bring the ball up to the Connacht line, where Tyrese Dunlop had the power to cross the whitewash.
Connacht’s first real chance of the game came after an Oisín O’Donoghue breakaway and offload put Lally away right on the sideline and he backed himself to finish, only to be denied by a superb last-ditch tackle from Scott Henderson.
The score wasn’t long in coming, Cathal Moffat diving over after Connacht won the lineout and sucked enough Ulster tacklers into the ruck to allow the Sligo prop to power through.
In defence and attack, Lally seemed to electrify the game every time he was in possession and it appeared as if he had scored when he gathered a skip pass from Dylan Curran and dived over, only for Kevin Coffey to rule out the score for a forward pass.
Connacht did take the lead when Hugh Óg Arnold’s tap and go penalty brought play up to the line and Ruben Fynn added the finish, but despite playing into the wind, they might have felt that they left other opportunities behind in the opening half and a 12-7 lead didn’t reflect the extent of their supremacy in that opening 35 minutes.
Ulster centre Joe Coates played a big part in keeping the game competitive with a couple of crucial tackles just when it looked as if the home side might make a breakthrough.
At the risk of recycling an overused cliché, in the first half Ulster played with the wind, in the second half they played with the ball, and it was their ability to do exactly that that gave them their win, allied to keeping the error count low and depriving Connacht of the quick ball they needed to exploit their attacking threat out wide.
James Lennon made a significant impact off the bench, nudging Ulster back in front when he scored in the corner five minutes into the second half and generally being the best type of nuisance for his side, disrupting Connacht’s attempts to dictate terms at both lineout time and when they were trying to go through the phases.
Ulster had their mistakes too. Tyrese Dunlop’s powerful run should have set up another try and they somehow failed to score at the end of five minutes of constant pressure on the Connacht line, while their usually strong maul was held up and turned over just when it looked as if Harry Dougan’s claim of a throw might lead to a third try.
But with Ulster playing good territorial rugby and dictating the terms of engagement for long stretches, it was only in the closing minutes when Connacht finally mounted some pressure and looked like they might get their noses back in front.
Giacomo Gambi-Whelan, Ruben Flynn, Conor Dalton and Cathal Moffat all had big carries, and the chances came their way. First it was Kaylum Curran’s agonisingly close kick, then the two Curran’s combined to give Owen Egan one last chance on the right wing, where three Ulster tacklers converged to hammer into the Connacht runner, forcing a spill in the tackle in what was the very last action of an absorbing encounter.
CONNACHT U-18: Daniel Kelly; Owen Egan, Oisín O'Donoghue, Darragh Glennon, Shane Lally; Dylan Curran, Luke Molloy; Reuben Galvin, Hugh Óg Arnold, Cathal Moffat; Emmanuel Albert, JJ Phillips; Micheál Walsh, Cian Kiernan, Ruben Flynn.
Replacements: Felix Zaray for Arnold (half-time), Ciarán West for Galvin (half-time), Peter Bourke for Albert (half-time), Giacomo Gambi-Whelan for Glennon (half-time), Conor Dalton for Phillips (50 mins), Hugo McGowan for Molloy (50 mins), Kaylum Curran for Kelly (50 mins).
ULSTER U-18: Alfie Clarke; Scott Henderson, Joe Coates, Ryan Hamilton, Lorcan McLarnon; Jonnie Kennedy, Sam Harper; Elias Agbonkpolor, Josh McColgan, Joel Irwin; Alfie Lucy, Tyrese Dunlop; Austin Adair, Harry Dougan, Caiden Slaughter.
Replacements: James Lennon for Slaughter (34 mins), Slaughter for Lucy (half-time), Luke McMillan for Coates (40 mins), Fynn Niblock for Dunlop (51 mins), Thomas Howe for Henderson (51 mins), Ben Todd for Harper (55 mins), Noah Carson for Agbonkpolor (63 mins), Dylan Byrne for Irwin (63 mins).
Referee: Kevin Coffey (MAR).
