Ulster v Munster: Five takeaways as Tom Farrell's heroics secures ...

Following Munster’s 22-19 triumph over Ulster, here’s our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship (URC) encounter at Kingspan Stadium on Friday.

As expected with most Irish inter-provincial derbies, this was a hard-fought match with both sides giving their all for the full 80 minutes and the result was in the balance until the game’s closing stages.

Both sides showed their intent from the kick off and the opening exchanges were characterised with some brutal hits and great physicality. Ulster held a slight edge early on and were rewarded when Tom O’Toole dotted down next to the posts from close quarters in the eighth minute.

It became a scrappy affair as the match progressed with the teams’ defences cancelling each other out but Munster struck back with Tom Farrell‘s first try and although Jack Crowley missed the conversion attempt, the match was evenly balanced with the hosts holding a narrow two-point lead.

Ulster then suffered a massive setback when O’Toole was red carded for foul play after 31 minutes but neither side would add further points during the opening half.

The match opened up after the break with Munster doing most of the attacking although Ulster were still competitive despite their numerical disadvantage.

Both sides gave the ball plenty of air with Farrell’s enterprising play rewarded with a deserved hat-trick. However, with Ulster playing most of the match with 14 men, Munster should have cruised to victory and in the end the visitors had to dig deep to clinch the win, which was only secured in the game’s dying moments.

The former Connacht man was the star of the show for the visitors as he delivered an outstanding attacking performance for the full 80 minutes and was rewarded with a hat-trick of tries.

After Ulster opened the scoring early on, the next 20 minutes was highlighted by excellent defence from both teams before Farrell combined brilliantly with Mike Haley to cross for his first try.

Farrell continued to impress as the match progressed and his midfield partnership with Alex Nankivell fast developing into a thing of beauty as they asked questions of the home side’s defence.

However, in the 52nd minute it was Farrell benefitting after combining with Haley again, when he crossed for his second try, and the Munster centre then turned provider when he offloaded to Shane Daly who also crossed for a try.

But Farrell would have the final say on this game’s outcome as he spared Munster’s blushes when he crossed for his third try in the closing stages and it was not a surprise when he walked off with the official man-of-the-match award after the game.

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Ireland international front-row O’Toole was only on the pitch for 31 minutes but he certainly made an impact – good and bad – as he was in the thick of the action during that time.

The powerful tighthead prop looked solid in the scrums but also gave his side a deserved lead when he crossed for the opening try from close quarters during the opening exchanges.

However, he undid all that good work shortly after the half hour-mark when he thundered into a ruck and came down heavily on Nankivell while cleaning him out and the Munsterman was left writhing on the floor while clutching his left leg.

And after watching television replays, referee Ben Whitehouse had no hesitation in issuing a red card to O’Toole who can’t complain about the match official’s decision.

Despite playing the bulk of the match with 14 men, Ulster did not surrender as they stayed in the fight throughout and, if truth be told, they could easily have finished on the winning side.

Their forwards came out firing from the outset and although the loss of O’Toole was a massive setback, they remained competitive for long periods with O’Toole’s replacement Scott Wilson arguably their best player.

Wilson shone in the execution of his core duties with his scrummaging particularly impressive but he also did well in the loose where he put in a big shift either side of the ball.

He received good support from his captain Alan O’Connor, Rob Herring and James McNabney as the hosts dominated proceedings for long periods and in the end they had 70% of the possession and 76% of the territory.

Despite those statistics, they could not pull off an unlikely win but head coach Richie Murphy can be proud of his troops.

Although Munster held on for victory, they should really have won this match by a far more convincing margin and there will be questions about Crowley’s goal-kicking performance which was far from satisfactory.

The Ireland fly-half struggled off the kicking tee and after missing a penalty attempt during the early stages of the first half, he showed no signs of improvement during the rest of the match.

In fact, up until the 80th minute the 24-year-old was unsuccessful with all his shots at goal after missing three conversion attempts. He eventually slotted a conversion with the final act of the game but that was his easiest kick of the match as Farrell had scored close to the posts.

That meant Crowley contributed just two points in his side’s win and his goal-kicking is something which he will have to work on as it could cost his team dearly during the rest of the season.

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