Jacob Stockdale was a player that Ulster could have desperately used during their 64-7 record defeat to Munster last Friday in Limerick.
Ulster could have done with Stockdale, Marcell Coetzee, Marty Moore, Rory Best, Stuart McCloskey and a minor miracle at Thomond Park as Munster ran in nine tries to one in a one-sided drubbing.
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland said after the game that the province would have to take their medicine this week but Connacht were quick to reopen their wounds again as Matt Healy sliced through the Ulster defence in the first-half to put Tiernan O’Halloran away in the corner for the first try of the game.
It was a great break from Connacht and further signs of their progression in attack under Andy Friend, even if it may have been aided by a block, but it was the grunt work that really impressed from the visitors.
Against an Ulster pack that welcomed back two British & Irish Lions and a Springbok international, Connacht more than matched up to the challenge up front and met the Ulster forwards head on at every opportunity.
They were aggressive in defence, quick off the line and dominant in the tackle, but they were devastating at the set-piece and continually destroyed an Ulster scrum that eventually led to referee Andy Brace awarding a penalty try for the visitors.
Front-rower Finlay Bealham made a serious statement ahead of next month’s November internationals as he looks to regain some ground on Tadhg Furlong, Andrew Porter and John Ryan at tighthead prop, Ultan Dillane and Quinn Roux performed very well together in the second-row but number eight Paul Boyle was the clear standout for Connacht with 70 running metres off just 11 carries in attack and 13 tackles in defence.
Boyle played just 23 minutes last season under Kieran Keane but has emerged as a breakout star this season with another huge performance against Ulster.
Connacht head coach Andy Friend said that it’s Boyle’s attention to detail and his ability to do the simple things right that is most pleasing to him.
“He’s a young bloke that has got a lot of desire and aspiration and big ambition,” said Friend.
“He’s got good energy, he’s a student of the game, he studies and he does all the simple things well and I reckon that’s a great lesson for any young player. To me it’s not necessarily flash what he’s doing but he just keeps delivering because he gets the detail right and that’s pleasing.”
Ireland winger Jacob Stockdale made his first start of the new season after returning from a hamstring injury and looked dangerous with ball in hand as he looked to test Connacht in the wide channels.
Stockdale scored 10 tries in 19 games for Ulster last season and head coach Dan McFarland thought the winger looked sharp in his return to the Kingspan.
“It’s part of the passes on the edge, we’ve got to get the ball to him,” said McFarland.
“If you’ve got a talent like that on the edge you’ve got to get the ball to him but yeah he looked sharp.”
McFarland added that he thought that flanker Matthew Rea’s red card was probably the right decision and that his side might have been able to reverse a nine-point deficit if it had not have been for Rea’s dismissal from the restart.
Matthew Rea sent off for huge tackle on Cian Kelleher in the air
“We were playing some good footy out there. The disappointments for me were around the scrum, where that was obviously an Achilles heel around the first-half, and they exploited that really well, and also the attack around the 22.
“The beginning of the game we had a couple of chances, one was called up for a penalty and the other one we lost the ball at the end of the game where we didn’t execute in their 22 but apart from that we were creating plenty of space.
“We might not have got the ball to the edge of the pitch as much as we should have done, held on to a couple of passes that should have gone because we needed to stretch them but we were creating opportunities to stretch their defence.
“That, alongside our discipline, which obviously has to improve, are probably going to be the primary things that come out of it.”
