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Ulster stay perfect with battling win at Southern Kings
By Harry West
Ulster maintained their 100 per cent start to the 2018-19 Pro14 campaign with a 28-7 win at Southern Kings on Sunday.
In a scrappy affair littered with penalties at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, the visitors only pulled away in the final 20 minutes thanks to tries from Marcell Coetzee, Angus Kernohan and Angus Curtis – the latter duo scoring the first of their senior careers.
Victory means Ulster are the only side to have won all three matches in Conference B, while the Kings remain bottom of the table with just two points to their name.
Ulster began brightly and forged ahead through two John Cooney kicks before both sides found themselves down to 14 in quick succession, Tienie Burger seeing yellow for the hosts before Alan O'Connor was also carded for an illegal clear out.
Another Cooney penalty further stretched the lead, but Ulster were a man light for another 10 minutes when Rob Herring was sin-binned at the end of first half for pulling down a driving maul.
The Kings capitalised early in the second period as Michael Willemse crossed at the back of a rolling maul, but when Ulster returned to 15, Coetzee barged over off the back of a scrum before Kernohan and Curtis opened their accounts to cap off a comfortable win.
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Latest Comments
Agreed. A very good comparison. On the day they can beat anyone.
You can never be sure which team is pitching up until the whistle blows.
I think Contemponi is a fabulous coach.
Go to commentsUmm - really?
He goes on to say that they just need to deal with the Bok scrums, lineouts and territorial game. Those are not one or two little things ...
Besides, I suspect Tony Brown would like to see his new attacking philosophy clicking against Wales. That involves a lot more than set pieces and kicking. And Gatland might want to be ready for it.
For me the big question is whether the Boks retain their shape and intensity, regardless of the scoreline. If they do that then it could be a cricket score.
But there have been times this year when we have seen them get into a kind of error strewn, shelter shelter, hot potato mode on attack. Hope we don't see that, because it is silly and ineffective. Also boring.
I would love to see the new Bok plan in full flight. But, sadly, my expectation is that we will be another England-like post-game interview, with Rassie "taking the win" but declaring that they did not play the way they intended to.
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