It was heartbreak for Ulster in this season’s opening Inter Provincial championship with the home side going down 10 – 36 to a strong Munster side at Queen’s Arena, The Dub on Sunday afternoon.

Ulster started brightly and put Munster under immediate pressure. A penalty attempt from Grace Davitt, after two minutes, was pushed wide but Ulster kept the visitors on the back foot with Ulster captain Stacey Lea Kennedy prominent. After a series of rucks close to the Munster line Ulster’s Imogen Porter spotted a gap and forced her way over the line for the opening score. Davitt hit the post with the conversion leaving the score at Ulster 5 Munster 0.

Munster worked hard to get back in the game and the wonderfully talented Niamh Briggs was on hand to dot down out right after the Ulster defence was fully stretched. Briggs added the conversion and the visitors led  5 – 7.

The game settled down after this initial flurry but the half ended with a burst of activity with Munster’s Ashling Hutchings scoring twice in quick succession, with Briggs converting one, before Jemma Jackson replied for Ulster beating three defenders to score in the corner. The Ulster try went unconverted giving a half time score of Ulster 10 Munster 19.

It was a scrappy start to the second half with both sides making several changes and Ulster introduced a series of positional switches that appeared to break up their game. Munster took full advantage with Niamh Kavanagh going over at the end of the third quarter to extend the visitors lead to fourteen points.

The visitors dominated the closing quarter as Ulster fell off the pace and Briggs and Anna Caplice scored late tries, with Briggs converting one, to give the visitors a deserved win.

Final Score: Ulster 10 Munster 36.

Ulster: Ilse Van Staden, Stacey Lea Kennedy (C), Fiona O’Brien, Sorcha Chipperfield, Colette Broome, Shirelle Wilson, Gemma McCutcheon, Nikita Armstrong, Imogen Porter, Grace Davitt, Zoe Templeton, Claire McLaughlin, Nikki Caughey, Jemma Jackson, Amy Davis. Replacements: Lizzie Ballentine, Laura Feely, Hanna Kilgore, Kelly Holmes, Noreen Nethercott, Dani Boyd, Aoife Walsh

Munster: Fiona Hayes, Chris Fanning, Gillian Bourke, Heather O’ Brien (C), Orlaith Buckley, Anna Caplice, Siobhan Fleming, Joy Neville, Louise Costello, Nicole Fitzgerald, Niamh Kavanagh, Laura O’Mahony, Niamh Briggs, Ashling Hutchins, Claire Keohane.Replacements: Leah Barbour, Kathryn Buggy, Karen Casey, Ciara Griffin, Clara Bracken, Nicola Scully, Riona Kennedy.

After the game we caught up with Ulster’s Jemma Jackson, The Front Row Union Ulster Girl of the Game, who had an impressive début for the home side.

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