Ulster will be mightily relieved this Guinness Interprovincial clash at the Galway Sportsground was purely academic - pushed all the way by Connacht until the dying minutes.
Admittedly Ulster were missing a handful of big guns, but it was a spirited Connacht second-half display that had them in front until Ulster outhalf Paddy Wallace kicked over the necessary close-in penalty on 74 minutes to rescue Ulster by a single point.
Connacht worked the harder for first phase ball, but they lacked the necessary penetration to turn possession into scores. After 22 minutes Ulster had done enough damage to put them into a 12-3 lead, outscoring Connacht by two tries to a single Mark McHugh penalty, deputising for the injured Eric Elwood.
Constable's try after four minutes split the Connacht defence open, skipping around the covering Wayne Munn to open the scoring. And when Bryn Cunningham locked onto a textbook training ground move, scampering after a clever kickthrough from Wallace, which the outhalf converted, it looked like Ulster would take control. However, the hardworking Connacht pack did enough to upset the Ulster front eight.
The second half belonged to Connacht and they went in front after three minutes when Uijs claimed the touch down from a well-worked Rown Frost line-out catch and maul from the 22. Both outhalves exchanged penalties to leave Connacht ahead after 67 minutes, but despite dominating play for most of the half, the hosts conceded a 74th minute penalty which Wallace converted for the narrowest of victories.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 3 mins: McHugh penalty 3-0; 4: Constable try 3-5; 22: Cunningham try, Wallace conversion 3-12; 23: McHugh penalty 6-12; 26: McHugh penalty 9-12; 43: Uijs try 14-12; 55: Wallace penalty 14-15; 67: McHugh penalty 17-15; 74: Wallace penalty 17-18.
CONNACHT: W Munn; T Robinson, P Duignan, T Allnutt, M McPhail; E Elwood, E Reddan; D McFarland, M Uijs, P Bracken, D Browne, R Frost, C Rigney, J O'Connor, DDillon. Replacements: M Swift for Dillon (9 min), R McCormack for McFarland (56 min), McFarland for Swift (77 min).
ULSTER: B Cunningham; J Topping, R Constable, A Larkin, T Howe; P Wallace, N Doak; J Fitzpatrick, N Brady, S Best, P Johns, A Kearney, T McWhiriter, A Ward, W Brosnihan. Replacements: M McCullough for Kearney & S Coulter for Topping (59 min), B Young for McCullough (77 min).
Yellow cards: Connacht, P Bracken (77); Ulster, J Fitzpatrick (77m).
Referee: Dave McHugh
