Ruan Pienaar’s supreme kicking display was the backbone to a scintillating Ulster victory as they overcame Irish rivals Munster by 29-19. The South Africa international missed one kick all night in collecting 19 points – in stark contrast to opposing kicker Ian Keatley’s four – while Jared Payne and Darren Cave touched down after two pulsating first-half moves. RaboDirect PRO12 leaders Munster were valiant in their fightback but, despite Ivan Dineen’s try just before half-time followed by Dave Kilcoyne and James Coughlan after the break, could not claw their way back in it. Rob Penney’s men may be running riot at the top of the RaboDirect PRO12 this year but Ulster had only lost one game at home in 11 months. And they set about proving why they are such a force at Ravenhill in the first three minutes after a penalty from the breakdown handed scrum-half Pienaar the opportunity to slot through three points. Ulster’s tempo quickened even further when Payne poked through a grubber kick for Craig Gilroy to chase, and a penalty was awarded with the try-line looming after Dineen failed to play the ball. And it was another sumptuous grubber which finally unlocked the Munster defence, Paddy Jackson’s perfectly-weighted kick allowing Payne to storm through and dive onto the ball before it trickled out of play. Pienaar made sure of the conversion but Keatley could have dragged the visitors back into it almost immediately, instead pushing a penalty wide of the posts. And when Munster were caught offside in midfield Pienaar – who continued to be favoured from the tee instead of fly-half Paddy Jackson – replied by thumping a huge kick between the uprights. While his South African counterpart was having joy with the boot, Keatley was having trouble after he skewed a routine penalty to the right. His team were also finding it hard to stop their Irish rivals and the menacing Andrew Trimble was the one to surge through this time, before Jackson weaved from left to right before being hauled down. Prop John Afoa was there to try and finish a stunning move off but despite shrugging off two tackles, his foot scraped into touch. But Ulster would not have to wait long to make their pressure count when Payne stormed into space, offloading to Trimble who cut back inside from the right. Centre Cave then cut across him in support and he crashed over the line to tie up a breathtaking move. The game was in danger of running away from the RaboDirect PRO12 table-toppers but in the dying stages of the first half Dineen skipped through for the try following a Keatley offload, who again missed the posts with a conversion attempt. Keatley’s rotten luck continued after the break after a long-range penalty veered away at the last and clonked off the left upright. After kicking a penalty in touch however Munster continued their comeback attempt, Kilcoyne turning the corner of a rolling maul to bundle his way through for the try. The successful conversion was a much-needed boost for Keatley and suddenly, Munster were right back in the match. Following a penalty at scrumtime Ulster had the chance to stem the tide by scoring themselves but the near-faultless Pienaar failed to kick through from both a difficult angle and distance. However he made good with a penalty in front of the posts soon after as Munster faced the last 20 minutes with an 11-point deficit to overcome. The way to respond quickly was by racking up another try and Penney’s troops duly did through another maul as this time No.8 Coughlan barrelled over. Ravenhill’s nerves were eased when Pienaar extended the lead to seven points with another swish of his right boot. But when Dan Tuohy was penalised five metres away from the whitewash Munster kicked to touch and only heroic Ulster defending prevented the bonus-point try for the visitors. The away side failed to reach the whitewash and in the ensuing five-metre scrum Mark Anscombe’s men flushed Munster out. And in the last minute Paul O’Connell was yellow carded following his knock-on, for Pienaar to clinch a memorable triumph for Ulster with another deadeye kick. Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up to our newsletter for regular updates on the RaboDirect PRO12
