Ulster v Munster

Ulster welcome Munster to Ravenhill for their United Rugby Championship quarter-final (7:35pm kick-off) with a place in the last-four on the line in ...

A poor pass by Mike Haley led to a chargedown from the ever alert Hume, although Ulster couldn’t quite gather the bouncing ball. The men from Thomond Park would get their second score of the evening thanks to a brilliant finish from Keith Earls that was hardly in keeping with what was going on around him, but they never felt closer than arm’s length. The home side went in search of a fourth that would have surely killed the game before the turn only to see their efforts undone with a knock-on. Plenty of attention has been devoted to Hume’s improvement in his footwork this season, but this was a first-half where his vision and ability to bring others onto the ball was to the fore. With Carbery on the ball and Earls outside him, a try was certain if the winger, so accomplished in such situations, didn’t get his read right but he shot from the line, took man and ball and forced the turnover. If it all felt somewhat lost in the shuffle by the time Ulster ran in their fifth of the night on their way to a 36-17 victory, you can bet that Baloucoune’s coaches, both Ulster and Ireland, remained keenly aware of the moment’s significance.