BBC Sportrugbyunion

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Related BBC sites

Page last updated at 20:34 GMT, Friday, 7 May 2010 21:34 UK

Ulster 41-10 Connacht

Ulster (12) 41
Tries: Danielli, Humphreys, Kyriacou, Whitten, Tuohy, Smith Cons: Humphreys 3, O'Connor Pens: Humphreys
Connacht (10) 10
Try: Loughney Con: Keatley Pens: Keatley


Advertisement

End-of-season highlights from Ravenhill

Ulster secured eighth place in the Magners League by earning a six-try win over bottom side Connacht as the season came to a conclusion at Ravenhill.

Tries by Simon Danielli and Ian Humphreys helped Ulster lead 12-10 at the break with Ronan Loughney replying for Connacht.

Andi Kyriacou, Ian Whitten, Dan Tuohy and Jamie Smith added second-half tries as Connacht began to wilt.

Rory Best was carried off with an ankle sprain but should recover quickly.

The Ulster hooker was on crutches after the game but his fitness for next month's Ireland tour of New Zealand and Australia is not in any doubt after a scan revealed nothing more serious than some soft tissue damage.

A fortnight ago, the Ravenhill match looked likely to be a play-off for Ireland's third and final Heineken Cup place next season before Ulster's impressive win in Edinburgh secured a place in Europe's premier competition.

Connacht coach Michael Bradley was taking charge of the westerners for the final time but his players appeared to have little left after their tremendous efforts in recent weeks.

Connacht fly-half Ian Keatley opened the scoring with an early penalty and the visitors stayed in the lead for the opening 20 minutes after Humphreys missed a straightforward penalty.

However, Ulster, playing against a strong wind, grabbed the lead after winger Danielli got on the end of his own grubber kick to beat Frank Murphy to the touch.

Dan Tuohy and Bryan Young
Dan Tuohy and Bryan Young celebrate Ulster's fifth touchdown

Humphreys then notched Ulster's second try after Whitten had charged down an attempted Keatley clearance.

The Ulster fly-half's second successful conversion increased the lead to 12-3 but Connacht reduced the deficit to two points by the interval as Loughney broke off a lineout to score, with Keatley adding the extras.

Best was carried off moments after the interval but his replacement Kyriacou made an immediate impression by touching down after an Andrew Trimble break.

Ulster sealed their bonus point when centre Whitten burst through the Connacht midfield to score and Tuohy's try helped extend the home team's lead to 34-10.

Smith completed the scoring for Ulster in the final play of the game as gaps increasingly began to appear in the Connacht defence.

Isaac Boss and Timoci Nagusa were both given a rousing send-off by the Ulster faithful as they were introduced in the second half for final appearances in the White jersey.

Boss and Ed O'Donoghue are both moving to Leinster while Nagusa has signed for French club Montpellier.


Ulster: J Smith; A Trimble, D Cave, I Whitten, S Danielli; I Humphreys, P Marshall; T Court, R Best (capt), BJ Botha; E O'Donoghue, D Tuohy; C Henry, W Faloon, R Diack.
Replacements: T Nagusa for Cave 53, N O'Connor for I Humphreys 65, A Kyriacou for Best 43, B Young for Botha 62, N McComb for O'Donoghue 65, A Birch for Anderson 75, Boss for Marshall 65.

Connacht: G Duffy; B Tuohy, N Ta'auso, A Wynne, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; R Loughney, S Cronin, J Hagan; M McCarthy, B Upton; J Muldoon (capt), M McComish, G Naoupu.
Replacements: M Nikora for Keatley 51, C O'Loughlin for Murphy 67, B Wilkinson for Loughney 43, A Flavin for Cronin 61, A Browne for McCarthy 29.
Not Used: J O'Connor, T Nathan.

Referee: D Philips (RFU)



Print Sponsor


see also
Edinburgh 25-37 Ulster
25 Apr 10 |  Rugby Union
Magners Celtic League 2009/10
14 Jul 09 |  Rugby Union
Magners League table
09 Aug 06 |  Tables
Celtic rugby archive
07 Jul 03 |  Welsh


related internet links:
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites