Peter Burke
Before the match even began, I had a sense that Ulster would emerge victorious. The game included a controversial moment when RG Snyman wasn’t carded for a blatant and illegal head tackle on Will Addison. Despite this incident, the match was quite entertaining. Ulster, the defending champions, trailed twice but a 69th-minute maul try from Eoghan Clarke and a late penalty from Jack Crowley secured their win.
It wasn’t champagne rugby but interpros rarely are and to be honest Crowley wasn’t having his best game in red.
Ulster led 17-7 at halftime with tries from Rob Herring and David McCann, responding to Snyman’s early score. The second half saw a burst of tries within seven minutes from Calvin Nash, Shane Daly, and Matthew Rea. Both Crowley and John Cooney were on point with their kicks, each converting three tries and adding a penalty.
Graham Rowntree’s team, boosted by a strong bench, won in front of a 17,496-strong home crowd and will face Ospreys in the quarter-finals. Ulster, finishing sixth, will travel to Leinster. Ulster had setbacks with injuries to Stuart McCloskey and Ethan McIlroy before kickoff, which brought Jude Postlethwaite and Stewart Moore into the lineup. Additionally, Kieran Treadwell’s early departure due to an ankle injury was another blow.
Snyman, who should not have been on the pitch for his high tackle on Addison, scored soon after, with Crowley converting. Ulster responded with a maul try from Herring and a Cooney penalty, giving them a 10-7 lead. Munster’s execution faltered, and a late mistake by Crowley resulted in an Ulster five-meter scrum. This led to a penalty and McCann’s try, converted by Cooney.
Munster’s bench, particularly their forwards, shifted the game’s momentum. Nash scored from a Craig Casey pass, and Crowley’s conversion narrowed the gap. Ulster’s Cormac Izuchukwu’s break set up Rea’s try, with Cooney adding the extras for a 24-14 lead.
Munster quickly responded, with Joey Carbery’s half-break leading to quick ball for Casey to send Daly over, which Crowley converted. Clarke redeemed himself for a previous mistake by scoring in the left corner, and Crowley’s final penalty secured the win for Munster, putting the game out of Ulster’s reach.
The game was enjoyable but could’ve have been so different if Snyman had received a card of any colour. The Munster supporters weren’t quite as flabbergasted as us but it was a close run thing. To add insult to injury he scores minutes later to put Munster ahead. To play against 14 for 10 or 78 minutes May have favoured but we’ll never know. Inexplicable that the URC keep giving games to Irish refs during interpros. Murphy, Brace & Busby – there’s plenty of games to go round and refs