Ulster 36 Connacht 10: An impressive five-try victory was enough to return Ulster to the top of the Celtic League last night thanks to Edinburgh's shock defeat at the Borders.
Mark McCall's side bounced back from last Saturday's reverse at Leinster in impressive fashion, a blitzkrieg first-half securing a four-try bonus point by the break as Matt McCullough, Rory Best, James Topping and Andrew Trimble all touched down.
McCall could not have asked for a better response as his side made most of the strong breeze at their backs, although they were unable to sustain the momentum after the break. Still, Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan - one of 9,546 spectators - surely left with a number of positive remarks in his notebook.
Connacht's only highlight was a late intercept try by wing Keith Mathews. With Borders surging up the table, Michael Bradley's side are in danger of being cut adrift at the bottom of the table.
It was lock Matt McCullough who opened the scoring for the home side when he grounded the ball for a seventh-minute try after number eight Roger Wilson had made a strong burst from the base of an attacking five-metre scrum.
Connacht outhalf Paul Warwick managed to cut the deficit with a penalty from the restart, but it proved to be a brief relief.
After Humphreys had missed what for him was a simple penalty attempt, he opted to kick a second kickable penalty to the corner and it paid dividends.
Hooker Rory Best's throw to McCullough was won by Connacht lock Christian Short, but the visitors' lock could only slap the ball over his own line and the Ulster hooker dived over for his side's second try in the 18th minute.
The scoring continued when James Topping burst over in the 27th minute following a lovely show and go by Humphreys from an Ulster scrum, with Humphreys' conversion stretching the lead to 16 points.
The Ulster outhalf was then shown a rare yellow card for deliberately knocking the ball on, but the visitors were reduced to 14 men themselves when hooker John Fogarty kicked the ball from an offside position after Maggs had burst through under the posts. Bryn Cunningham stretched the lead with a penalty before Andrew Trimble clinched the bonus point when he finished off in clinical fashion after Topping had created the space with slick hands in the corner.
With a 29-3 lead at the interval, Ulster, after a high tempo start to the second half, rather fizzled out, especially given Boss' indifferent showing and the game only sprung to life when Tommy Bowe raced over with six minutes remaining before Mathews gave Connacht some consolation.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 7 mins: M McCullough try, D Humphreys con, 7-0; 10 mins: P Warwick pen, 7-3; 18 mins: R Best try, 12-3; 27 mins: J Topping try, Humphreys con, 19-3; 33 mins: B Cunningham penalty, 22-3; 38 mins: A Trimble try, Cunningham con, 29-3; 74 mins: T Bowe try, Wallace con, 36-3; 79 mins: K Mathews try, T Robinson con, 36-10.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, K Maggs, A Trimble, J Topping; D Humphreys (P Wallace 73), K Campbell (I Boss 53); J Fitzpatrick, R Best (P Shields 59), S Best (B Young 73), J Harrison (R Frost 59), M McCullough, N Best, N McMillan (C Feather 21), R Wilson.
CONNACHT: M Mostyn; K Mathews, D Yapp (J Hearty 64), J Downey (T Robinson 70), C McPhillips; P Warwick, C Keane; R Hogan (D McFarland 73), J Fogarty, S Knoop, C Short, A Farley, J Muldoon, M Lacey, C Rigney.
Referee: A Rolland (Leinster).
