Farrell the hat-trick try hero for Munster as they pinch the points away to Ulster

Declan Bogue Reports from Kingspan Ravenhill

Munster 22

Ulster 19

TOM FARRELL PUT his name up in lights in a dour URC Round 8 fixture here, his trio of tries among the slim pickings to be admired.

The grit that Munster displayed in coming back from Ulster scores showed, despite their managerial turmoil and lengthy injury list, they still retain a huge heart as they pinched the win at the death.

Digging into the digits prior to the game told us just how similar both sides had fared in the United Rugby Championship.

Ulster were ahead by seven on points scored, two behind on points concession. They both had chalked up 26 tries apiece and their tackle success was both 80.

There were tell-tale signs though. Munster have been somewhat of a pushover and vulnerable to a turnover or 106, to Ulster’s 78.

However, at some point Munster would have to rest Peter O’Mahony, Tadhg Beirne and Jack Crowley. And that’s almost exactly what interim head coach Ian Costello chose to do, retaining Crowley and benching the others.

The couple of tankings that Ulster took were far from unexpected when they came against Toulouse and Bordeaux, but hardly confidence-building all the same.

With Munster listing at 11^th, Ulster just one place ahead, it was a game where both were feeling the pressure. High-stakes rugby despite the time of year.

Appetite, that intangible that Ulster have been accused of lacking of late, was in evidence in the opening stages. Across the first eight minutes, according to their in-house stats team, Ulster enjoyed 89% possession with 97% of the territory on offer.

They also had a clean sweep of four lineouts, Dave McCann climbing to claim three of these and it all led to good field possession for the front rows to soften each other up in a splendid display of rutting.

Eventually, Tom O’Toole went over for the opening try under the posts, with the reinstalled John Cooney popping over the conversion.

For an interpros match, the stands were, at best, patchy. The atmosphere needed a succession of home tries to get going but Munster had no interest in that. After the concession of the first try they sharpened up all areas of discipline and dragged it into arm-wrestle territory.

Ulster’s attack was blunted with the loss of the latest great white hope in winger Zac Ward. Just before the half hour Tom Farrell was put clear with some sharp Munster work through the hands to leave Werner Kok grabbing a handful of jersey as he went over in the corner.

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The conversion kick was too tight for Jack Crowley, hooking it wide of the upright.

Disaster followed as Tom O’Toole was red carded on 31 minutes. Going in hard on the knee of Alex Nankivell was the offence. Upon being shown the red, O’Toole immediately went to Nankivell to briefly speak with him and shake his hand before leaving the pitch.

Ulster’s surgery required Scott Wilson to replace Rory Telford, on the pitch a mere eight minutes at this point, while Munster’s interim head coach Ian Costello brought Rory Scannell on for the stricken Nankivell.

More misfortune was to come for the home side when Stuart McCloskey sustained a leg injury and had to be replaced by debutant Jack Murphy just a minute from the break.

After a series of calls went against the home side at the start of the second half, Tom Farrell found himself in a good bit of space to run in an easy try for Munster along the touchline, but again Crowley was unable to convert on 51 minutes.

A yellow card for Rory Scannell on 60 minutes equalled things up and four minutes later, just on the pitch for four minutes himself, Harry Sheridan went over after a severely brutal period of nose to nose pushing and shoving to take the lead again.

Cooney’s conversion kick however, kissed the inside of the post and stayed out.

Almost immediately Munster were back in the lead. They strung together a routine passing move and Shane Daly made a beautiful body shape to go back inside and it bought him just enough space off John Cooney to go over.

Once again however, the kick just didn’t suit Crowley.

If Ulster were to get anything from this, it would require huge courage on a night when it all seemed to be going against them. But they never stopped the hard graft and with five minutes to go they got the most blue-collar try going through James McNabney adding another layer of punishment on a hard-pressed Munster defence, and this time Cooney couldn’t miss.

But by God, they were never more vulnerable than when they scored. And once again Munster went over two minutes later through Tom Farrell with his hat-trick try, with Crowley finally, finally, adding the conversion points to leave Ravenhill one major Christmas party that was pooped.

Scorers for Munster

Tries: Tom Farrell (28, 52, 79), Shane Daly (67)

Conversions: Jack Crowley (79)

Penalties: 0

Scorers for Ulster

Tries: Tom O’Toole (8), Harry Sheridan (65), James McNabney (76)

Conversions: John Cooney (8, 76)

Penalties: 0

Munster

Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell (Rory Scannell, 34), Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Paddy Patterson (Ethan Coughlan, 46 – [Patterson, 55] – Coughlan, 68);

John Ryan (Dave Kilcoyne, 50), Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer (Oli Jager (50); Tom Ahern, Fineen Wycherley (Brian Gleeson, 62); Jack O’Donoghue (Evan O’Connell, 50), John Hodnett (Alex Kendellen, 55), Gavin Coombes.

Ulster

Michael Lowry; Werner Kok, Jude Postlethwaite, Stuart McCloskey (Jack Murphy, 39),  Zac Ward (Rory Telford, 26 – [Scott Wilson, 35]); Aidan Morgan, John Cooney;

Andy Warwick (Eric O’Sullivan, 62), Rob Herring (John Andrew, 55), Tom O’Toole; Alan O’Connor, Kieran Treadwell (Harry Sheridan, 60); James McNabney, Marcus Rea (Matty Rea, 66), Dave McCann.

Red card: O’Toole (31)

Ref: B Whitehouse (Wales)