Munster 24-10 Ulster

Munster (14) 24
Tries: De Villiers, Wallace, Earls, Warwick Con: O'Gara 2
Ulster (10) 10
Try: Humphreys Con: Humphreys Pen: Humphreys

Munster outmuscled a battling Ulster side to clinch a bonus-point victory in an entertaining Magners League encounter at Thomond Park.

Jean de Villiers' early try gave Munster a 7-0 advantage before Ian Humphreys' brilliant individual score helped Ulster take a three-point lead.

But a David Wallace try enabled Munster to move 14-10 ahead at half-time.

Keith Earls' score increased Munster's lead and Paul Warwick's late try ensured the bonus point.

Ulster went into the game heading the league table after their dogged victory over Leinster last weekend.

However, Munster notched the opening score in the seventh minute after Tomas O'Leary's break set up de Villiers to score underneath the posts, with Ronan O'Gara adding the conversion.

But Ulster responded well with Paddy Wallace going close to scoring a try before being forced into touch.

The northerners were on terms by the 16th minute as Humphreys notched a clever try by running to grasp his own dinked kick over the Munster defence after Denis Fogarty's crooked line-out throw had conceded a scrum in the home 22.

With Humphreys continuing to kick beautifully, he also notched a penalty on 21 minutes to nudge Ulster into a 10-7 lead.

At the point, Munster went back to their tried-and-trusted forward-dominated game with Paul O'Connell leading the home charge.

A series of pick-and-goes by the Munster pack had the home side camped in the visitors' 22 although the Ulster defence held firm for more than 10 minutes.

Then came probably the key moment of the match in the 34th minute as Ryan Caldwell was adjudged to have stepped illegally into one of his own line-outs in the Ulster 22.

Tomas O'Leary took the quick free-kick and David Wallace was able to bludgeon his way over for a try.

O'Gara added the conversion and it left Munster four points ahead at the break.

Andrew Trimble's break straight after the restart almost caught Munster napping before the danger was averted.

With the home side's pack starting to turn the screw, Earls scored Munster's third try in the 47th minute after O'Gara's clever flat pass - although Timoci Nagusa's attempt at a tackle on the winger left a lot to be desired.

Humphreys had a chance to get Ulster to within a score of the home side but he was just wide from 45 metres.

After the hour-mark, a succession of Ulster charges from deep asked questions of the home defence but the impressive O'Connell rallied his colleagues with a key turnover in the 69th minute.

Ulster's Darren Cave was sin-binned in the closing stages for a misjudged aerial tackle on Ian Dowling which thankfully the Munster winger quickly recovered from.

At the death, O'Gara turned down a couple of penalty chances as Munster chased the bonus point and it arrived in the final 20 seconds as the lively Warwick breached the Ulster defence.

Munster: P Warwick; I Dowling, L Mafi, J de Villiers, K Earls; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; J Brugnaut, D Fogarty, S Archer, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell capt, A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.
Replacements: D Varley for Fogarty (70).
Not Used: D Kilcoyne, M O'Driscoll, N Ronan, P Stringer, D. Hurley, F Jones.

Ulster: C Schifcoske; T Nagusa, P Wallace, capt, D Cave, A Trimble; I Humphreys, I Boss; T Court, N Brady, BJ Botha, E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, W Faloon, C Henry.
Replacements: S Danielli for Nagusa 52, P Marshall for Boss 66, B Young for Court 63, A Kyriacou for Brady 63, Diack for Faloon 66.
Not Used: Horua, Whitten.

Attendance: 26,000

Referee: A Rolland (Ireland).

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