Ulster edge out Connacht to return to winning ways after South Africa trip

Ulster returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 32-27 United Rugby Championship victory over Connacht at Kingspan Stadium.

The hosts, beaten in South Africa by the Lions and then the Bulls in their last two outings, bounced back thanks to 12 points from scrum-half John Cooney.

A 71st-minute red card for Josh Murphy following a shoulder to the face of James McCormick with the scores level at 24-24 proved costly for Connacht as the home side made the extra man count in the closing stages.

Ulster hooker John Andrew broke the deadlock little more than two minutes in after being propelled over from a maul, Cooney converting.

Winger Shayne Bolton opened Connacht’s account after 11 minutes with an unconverted try. Following a series of probes on the Ulster try-line scrum-half Ben Murphy, the son of Ulster coach Richie, threw a looping pass wide for Bolton to finish in the corner.

Ulster extended their lead after 20 minutes with a try from Jude Postlethwaite, the centre reaching out and dotting down from close range, but Cooney was off target with the conversion.

Cooney scored Ulster’s third try after 28 minutes, picking the ball up from the base of a ruck on the Connacht 22 to go under the posts, making his conversion a formality.

Lock Joe Joyce got Connacht back in the game with a try from a driving maul three minutes later, but Josh Ioane could not convert from a tight angle.

Ulster had winger Werner Kok sin-binned for a tackle in the air a minute later.

Murphy showed the Ulster defence a clean pair off heels to ace over from long range with the clock in the red at the end of the first half and Ioane converted to cut Ulster’s advantage to 19-17 at the interval.

Connacht had a try chalked off by the TMO three minutes into the second half as flanker Sean O’Brien was adjudged not to have grounded the ball.

They were reduced to 14 men when lock Josh Murphy was yellow carded after 50 minutes and Ulster took immediate advantage with their bonus-point try from flanker David McCann.

The sides were level after 61 minutes as replacement hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin scored from a maul, with Ioane converting.

But then came Murphy’s sending-off and Cooney was on target with the resulting penalty.

Nick Timoney put the result beyond doubt with Ulster’s fifth try in the 78th minute before Ioane knocked over a penalty with the last kick of the game.