Celtic League/Ulster - 3 Munster - 24: Maybe if Andy Ward had not been bulldozed into touch just before the break by Shaun Payne. Maybe if Mossie Lawlor hadn't intercepted Adam Larkin's high pass to Tommy Bowe early in the second half for Munster's first try. Maybe Munster were simply due more than just one win in Ravenhill since 1979.at Ravenhill
The maybes can mount up and stack as high as possible. But Ulster coach Mark McCall was not inclined to hide behind them as the province served up to their loyal following the sort of display that is not normally part of the Ravenhill menu. Limp, lifeless, lacking urgency, unimaginative and perhaps most fatal of all, Ulster appeared to play with a shattered confidence.
The team is now drifting far from its moorings with only Scottish side Borders holding a worse record after seven Celtic League matches. Five defeats and a rut so deep that when watching the players on Saturday, observing their body language, their appetite, it was obvious that there was, and is, a collective malaise in the camp.
"That performance was unacceptable," said coach Mark McCall. "We're hugely disappointed by it. Probably as empty as we've felt all year. As the guy in charge, I'm responsible."
McCall looked more shattered than his players and, despite the show of solidarity from Munster coach Alan Gaffney afterwards, his task looks enormous. Gaffney pointed out that Munster had gone through a rotten run of five Celtic League defeats in succession before pulling out of the tailspin.
The Munster coach looked to the quality of his players during that phase as McCall will have to do now. But there was no dodging the reality of the present. Munster were missing most of their first-choice side, Ulster only a couple.
"The one thing the Ravenhill crowd can expect is for us to show appetite, enthusiasm, energy and certainly in the first half hour that wasn't there," said McCall. "It was a nothing half hour. We talked all week about us dictating the pace and the tempo of that first half. We failed to do that. I think that's what we're most disappointed about, the lack of whatever it was in the first half.
"We've got to sit down on Monday morning and hold our hands up, see where we're going wrong. It comes from the management right down to the development players. We need to see where it is, that lack of spark in those first 20 minutes. They were the deadest 20 minutes of rugby that I've seen for a long time. Deader than dead. That's exactly what Munster wanted - for there to be no spark, for the crowd to have gone completely quiet. And that's what they got."
That first half? Match notes after 28 minutes say: "Nothing of note save a few digs thrown and a huge hit by Jonny Bell on James Storey. A Paul Burke penalty."
Lawlor's intervention brought the tedium to a close with Ulster in the ascendant but 0-8 behind on the scoreboard. To their credit they opened the second period with the aggression and tempo raised but with regularity the home side coughed the ball back to Munster.
Around the midfield they were also handing Burke kickable penalties, which the man of the match used brilliantly to steadily build a lead. The rhythm of the game, to McCall's horror, went something like; hand over possession to Munster, let them kick to touch and then foul in the rucks and mauls.
Eddie O'Sullivan, watching in the wings to see how Munster openside flanker Denis Leamy, David Wallace at number eight and Ulster wing Tommy Bowe would cope with the game, saw little to sway him either way, although, Leamy and Wallace certainly showed their toughness and mobility around the pitch.
The game closed with Burke orchestrating the shape of the match; kicking and pulling players around. Shaun Payne justly got over at the end following a neat cross field kick left to right.
In the end the whistle was Ulster's saviour "We've now got to start winning some rugby matches," said McCall grimly.
"That's what we're being paid to do. There's too much talk about developing young players, all that kind of crap. We've got to win rugby matches. That starts next week against the Borders. Somehow we've got to try to get ourselves out of a situation."
SCORING SEQUENCE: 15 mins: P Burke pen, 0-3; 40 mins: M Lawlor try, 0-8; half-time: 8-0; 49 mins: A Larkin pen, 3-8; 51 mins: Burke pen, 3-11; 62 mins: Burke pen, 3-14; 64 mins: Burke pen, 3-17; 80+5 mins: S Payne try, Burke con, 3-24.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, J Bell, P Steinmetz, T Howe; A Larkin, N Doak; S Best, P Shields, R Moore, R Frost, M McCullough, A Ward, N Best, C Feather. Replacements: G Brown for Feather (59 mins), A Maxwell for Howe (65 mins), S Mallon for Bell (72 mins), K Campbell for Doak (75 mins), R McCormack for Moore (75 mins), R Best for Shields (78 mins).
MUNSTER: C Cullen; S Payne, J Storey, J Holland, M Lawlor; P Burke, M Prendergast; F Roche, J Flannery, G McIlwham, D O'Callaghan, T Horgan, A Quinlan, D Leamy, D Wallace. Replacements: S Keogh for Quinlan (10 mins), J Kelly for Holland (75 mins), T Bowman for Horgan (80 mins).
Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).
