ULSTER 27-20 SCARLETS
A battle of the goal-kickers turned into a stunning display of running rugby and broken field carnage. Ulster now top Guinness PRO14 Conference B after winning three games on the trot.
John Cooney had kicked Ulster into a 12-3 lead until a Leigh Halfpenny penalty and a converted Johnny McNicholl try saw them fall 13-12 behind.
The northern province struck back soon after after a superb move involving Stuart McCloskey and Sean Reidy led to a try from the superb, rapacious Jacob Stockdale.
https://twitter.com/SportTG4/status/908785130633916424
Cooney missed his only kick of the night and was walking to the sideline - replaced by Paul Marshall - not long after with Ulster trailing 20-17. Les Kiss' men were cut apart on their right flank and Lions' star Jonathan Davies finished the sweeping Scarlets move off.
Christian Lealiifano took over the kicking duties for the hosts and drew the scores level with a penalty. The scoring was not done yet.
Again, McCloskey featured as he barged his way into contact before offloading to Tommy Bowe. Paul Marshall kept the move alive when Bowe was scragged and Luke Marshall's looping pass found replacement hooker John Andrew, who cantered over with the match-winning try.
The match truly opened up in the final half an hour and the Ulster backline quarter of Lealiifano, McCloskey, Stockdale and Louis Ludik combined for 320 metres gained off 53 carries. That included six clean breaks and 11 defenders beaten.
McCloskey was immense in the No.12 jersey and Stockdale, scoring his 11th senior try in 26 appearances, made 74 metres off 10 carries [3 line breaks, 2 defenders beaten]. There was a man-of-the-match award for the big centre while Stockdale, who also had two aerial claims of note, had fans raving:
https://twitter.com/billtedsam/status/908792654359560193
https://twitter.com/NotoriousJOS/status/908782622146428928
https://twitter.com/TheLooseH/status/908770563023400960
https://twitter.com/threeredkings/status/908768054758305793
Elsewhere, Connacht lost 21-8 to Bernard Jackman's Dragons side at Rodney Parade. Jack Carty got an earlier penalty for the Irish side and Quinn Roux burst over for an early second half try but the hoped for comeback never materialised.
https://twitter.com/connachtrugby/status/908786855424004096
Kieran Keane's men remain third in Conference A but have just six points to their name thus far and tough tests ahead.
