Last-ditch conversion saves Ulster and gives Ireland coach Scott Bemand ever more reason to consider Vicki Irwin as Six Nations contender
Connacht get it right for 70 minutes but are foiled by two late tries
ULSTER 25
CONNACHT 25
Ulster stayed firm in the fight, reeling in a fourteen-point deficit in the last eight minutes to gain a draw with Connacht at The Kingspan in Belfast.
Player of the Match Britney Hogan got the first of the two catch-up touchdowns under the posts with Vicki Irwin tapping over the conversion before Stacey Sloan crossed some 18 metres to the left of the posts.
Had Connacht pushed Ulster wide enough to make the conversion too difficult? Substitute Irwin took the ball back to the 22m line and smacked over the kick - a conversion under pressure that can't but have been noted by Ireland coach Scott Bemand.
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"We came out of the blocks very slowly, were playing very as much as individuals rather than as a team and our defence was letting in too many points," admitted Hogan afterwards.
"We knew that first-half performance wasn't who we were and we got a bit of a kick up the backside at half-time and honed in on the fact we needed to work harder in defence.
"We are a team of workhorses, a team that doesn't stop as we showed last week as well, and our bench who had been beating us up all week in training made a class impact.
"I am really proud of the girls, really glad to come away with the draw."
Two early Abby Moyles penalties with a Maebh Deely in between had the home side ahead on the half-hour but impressive blindside Faith Oviawe outpaced the defence to push the score to 6-10 in the 35th minute.
Laoise McGonagle, one of the UL Bohs contingent in the Connacht side, stretched that lead to 6-15 following scoring in the left corner a minute after the restart but that was pegged back five minutes later as a super Lucy Thompson score kept her side in the game.
Deely stretched the gap to 11-22 converting her own try in the 52nd minute.
Indeed, Connacht with Nicole Fowley calling the shots were looking good as Deely added a penalty just on the hour and as the last 10 minutes kicked in.
Ulster were working diligently however and Hogan was having more and more of an impact on the game before she crossed under the posts from close range in the 73rd minute, Irwin converting to make it a seven-point game.
Ulster crossed two minutes from time when a surge for the line, initially held off by a determined double tackle from Deely and Oviawe, saw Ulster move the ball another 10 yards left from where a determined Sloan crashed over getting the ball down in the tackle.
ULSTER: Lauren Farrell-McCabe; Lucy Thompson, Catherine Martin, Tara O'Neill, Peita McAlister; Abby Moyles, Kathryn Dane capt; Bronach Cassidy, India Daley, Sophie Barrett, Brenda Barr, Cara O'Kane, Moya Hill, Maebh Clenaghan, Brittany Hogan
Subs; Christy Hill, Megan Brodie, Ava Fannin, Gemma McCamley, Stacey Sloan, Rachael McIlroy, Paige Smyth, Vicky Irwin. Reserve: Megan Simpson
CONNACHT: Maebh Deely; Clara Barrett, Orla Dixon, Éabha Nic Dhonnacha, Laoise McGonagle; Nicole Fowley, Grainne Moran; Ella Burns, Lily Brady, Megan Collis, Karly Tierney, Grace Browne Moran, Faith Oviawe, Beibhinn Gleeson, Shannon Touhey
Subs; Stacy Hanley, Hope Lowney, Roisín Maher, Jemima Adams Verling, Rosie Searle, May Goulding, Ava Ryder, Hannah Clarke
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