United Rugby Championship: Ulster 47 Ospreys 17
ULSTER bounced back in the best possible fashion after last week’s defeat to Leinster by easily brushing off a poor Ospreys challenge on Saturday night.
The home support had barely taken up position in the concrete jungle of the Kingspan Stadium when Luke Marshall went over for the first of Ulster’s seven tries in the first minute. And when hooker John Andrew added a second on seven minutes, the destination of the victory points was never up for debate.
Jac Morgan gave the visitors something to shout about in the 13th minute but Ulster kept up the pressure.
Sam Carter claimed the first of his two tries of the evening after 22 minutes while Marshall went over again in the 33rd minute as Dan McFarland’s side cruised to a half time lead of eighteen points, 28-10.
“I think we showed great spirit in bouncing back after losing at home last week, which is good to see,” said a delighted head coach afterwards.
“We didn’t really need to talk about it much (Leinster loss), my gut told me we would see that performance and we did.
“There are hungry guys in our squad. The squad is playing well and doing some good stuff, and they did that even last week, even though we didn’t play as well as we can do. That was a tough game against a tough team.
“But there’s positivity in how we’re playing and guys are mustard to play. If they miss out on any game time then they get really hungry for the minutes they get and I think you saw that in the determination they put in when their name is called.”
Ulster showed that hunger and desire that McFarland spoke of in a second half. After the turnaround Ulster ran in a further three tries as they romped to their third bonus point win of the season.
In the opening minute of the second half Stuart McCloskey bulldozed his way over for a try before Carter added his second in the 64th minute. Marcus Rea completed the try frenzy with four minutes remaining while John Cooney enjoyed another great night from the tee by converting six of the seven tries.
But there was to be a downside to the win with injuries being picked up to vital players in vital positions.
Marty Moore had to be replaced as early as the 11th minute and there was immense disruption at out-half.
Ian Madigan failed to emerge for the second half, while Billy Burns was forced ashore just after the hour mark.
In form centre McCloskey was also forced off early in the second half and with the squad due to fly to South Africa on Tuesday, McFarland faces a nervous wait before naming his touring party.
“The fact that we managed that second half pretty well given the disruption in pivotal positions we had. Poor Ian going off after playing so well in the first half, Billy coming on and then having to go off, Stu McCloskey having to go off. We ended up with Mikey (Lowry) at 13, then at 10, and then Coons on the wing.
“There was a lot of disruption around that but I felt until the final minute we managed that second half pretty well.”
Of the four new injuries from Saturday night, Moore (concussion) and Madigan (lower leg) are the big doubts with McFarland adding that “"Ian's one didn't look great to be honest.
"He's in a brace but we'd be hopeful the other guys will be OK, but we won't know until Monday or Tuesday when they can be assessed."
