The news that Ulster superstar Marcell Coetzee had decided to leave Ulster to return home to South Africa may have overshadowed the traditional Boxing Day derby weekend in PRO14, but it didn’t stop the Belfast side’s march in Conference A.
Ulster shrugged off the news, playing without Coetzee, who is injured, to overturn a 14-9 halftime deficit and fightback to keep their unbeaten record with a 32-19 win over Connacht in Galway on Sunday.
The victory meant they stretched their unbeaten record to nine straight victories and now enjoy a seven-point lead over defending champions Leinster, who have played two games less after COVID protocols prevented them from fulfilling their fixture against Munster this past weekend
Dan Mcfarland’s side was “smart” in the way they played and their coach was happy to continue the unbeaten run, even though it will be tested in the next fortnight against the other two unbeaten Irish sides.
“We knew we were going to have an opportunity in the second half if we were smart and that’s how it turned out,” he said.
“We knew the collision war was going to be huge. Connacht placed a huge emphasis on that collision area and we lost that the last two times we came here but to be fair to the lads out there, they put a focus on that area and it paid dividends.
“The next two teams we play (Munster and Leinster) are the two best teams in the competition, so it doesn’t get any easier but we’ll look forward to it.”
Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh were also denied the opportunity to meet as scheduled in Round 9 due to a Covid-related postponement the 1872 Cup fixture is due to be rescheduled to January 2.
A try from Josh Turnbell meant that Cardiff Blues squeaked home in a tight affair against the Dragons, winning 13-12 in a keenly contested affair.
Blues defence coach Richard Hodges was a relieved man after the nail-biting win.
“It’s more of a relief, having been behind on the scoreboard until the 68th minute, but we managed to get in front,” said Hodges.
“Conditions during the first half were terrible and Dragons had the benefit of those, but we hung tough especially with the penalty count going against us early on.
“We problem-solved really well and dealt with the areas of the game where we were getting penalised - around the lineout and around the offsides – and it was a good win in the end.”
In the other Welsh derby Scarlets fought back from 14-6 down to win 16-14 in another close encounter. Scarlets head coach Glenn Delaney was a happy man after a later Angus O’Brien try was the difference between the two sides.
“We are delighted with the win, I’m really happy with the finish but there is plenty for us to work on. We stayed in the game and that’s what you have to do in a derby,” said Delaney.
“There were a lot of things we weren’t happy about in terms of our skillsets and penalty count – we were very ill-disciplined and we need to correct that.”
Results
Dragons 12-13 Cardiff Blues
Ospreys 14-16 Scarlets
Connacht 19-32 Ulster