Oct 13,2024
While Leinster and Munster's blockbuster meeting at Croke Park has dominated the headlines this week, the late Saturday Interpro up in Belfast is one that matters just as much to supporters of Ulster and Connacht.
The two sides meet at Kingspan Stadium (8pm kick-off) with contrasting motivations. For Ulster, a win would wipe the slate clean after back-to-back defeats on their tour of South Africa, while for the visitors, a third win from four games would constitute a brilliant start to the season, from what has been a tough fixture list.
For the neutral, Connacht have been the best value for money this season in the URC, scoring an average of just over 30 points per game, while conceding just under 30.
However, if your emotional well-being is dependent on them every week, this could be a very long season. In their first game against Munster they traded blows at Thomond Park before coming away with two bonus-points in defeat, although there were clear frustrations that they didn't return to Galway with more.
A week later it looked like they had fallen back into old habits, and were 27-7 behind against the Sharks at home, before they turned on the gas in the second half and scored 29 unanswered points to win 36-30.
Travelling to Llanelli last week, it seemed as if they were finally in for a stress-free night when they ran into an early 14-0 lead against the Scarlets, but needed a late Cathal Forde penalty to fall over the line, 24-23 winners.
Those two wins may not have been good for the heart, but for head coach Pete Wilkins, that ability to find a way to win shows a marked development in his squad.
"I referenced it directly to the players in the changing room after the game. I don’t think we would have won that game last season, and probably a couple of reasons," the Connacht head coach said of the win against the Scarlets.
"I’m not sure we would have had that bedrock of spirit and identity that we are trying to build in order to drive the intensity we needed to stay in the fight.
"Although we didn’t have the accuracy at times, I think the intensity was important."
The next step for the province will be to stop getting themselves in these jams.
The common thread of their three games this season has been their struggle to make repairs in the moment, compounding errors with more errors, and conceding points in bunches.
Against Munster, they saw their early 12-0 lead wiped out when they gave up two tries in three minutes, while against the Sharks they shipped 27 points in the space of 16 first-half minutes.
Even against a limited Scarlets side, they struggled to adapt to Bundee Aki’s yellow card, with both Welsh tries coming while the Ireland international was in the sin-bin.
While Ulster have lost two of their first three games, they have shown an ability to strike in attack, picking up a try-scoring bonus-point away to the Lions, while also coming close to doing the same in the recent 47-21 defeat to the Bulls (above).
An early-season tour to South Africa was made even more difficult by a raft of unavailable players. Injuries to hookers Tom Stewart and Rob Herring forced them into the emergency signing of Tadgh McElroy, while Marty Moore’s retirement has also seen them draft in Corrie Barrett and Bryan O’Connor at short notice.
The Emerging Ireland tour of South Africa has also hit them harder than others, with Cormac Izuchukwu, Harry Sheridan and Scott Wilson in particular being missed in recent weeks.
As a result of that, their starting line-up that faced the Bulls in Pretoria last week contained three players making their first starts for the province, while the South Africans had close to their first choice XV available.
"If you look at a Charlie Irvine or a James McCormick making their first start and they are playing against a pack with however many Springboks at Loftus, I know on the face of it the score wasn’t crazy close but it actually felt like we were kind of in that game and we could have got a bonus point or two in the end, and that must be motivating in certain ways," Ulster back row Nick Timoney (below) said.
"From my point of view, as much as those lads’ ambition may want to be winning, a first, second, third cap or a first start can be huge for lads and it puts them in a good place."
Stuart McCloskey is now also part of Ulster’s injured international contingent, but Murphy has been able to put together a strong matchday squad, with John Cooney, Jude Postlethwaite, Tom O’Toole, Kieran Treadwell and Timoney all returning to the starting team.
Connacht have an element of freshness on their side, having had an extra day’s rest since their Friday night win over Scarlets, not to mention a much shorter commute home.
Joe Joyce and Josh Ioane both return from injury to the starting side, while Sean O’Brien, Paul Boyle and Shayne Bolton also come into the starting team, with Bolton having impressed when the sides met in Belfast last December.
That most recent instalment of the derby was the fourth in a row to have been decided by one score, with Ulster holding on for a 20-19 victory.
Their home form, particularly in Interpros, will provide a level of comfort, having won six URC games in a row on their own patch, while they also beat all three provinces in Belfast last season.
