FAITH Oviawe celebrated her call-up as an Ireland training panellist by helping Connacht to a third place finish, wearing down a Brittany Hogan-less Ulster to close out the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship with a 33-19 play-off victory.
Oviawe touched down in either half at Kingspan Stadium, taking her tournament haul to six tries, but the game’s biggest talking point was the sending-off of Ulster’s stand-in captain Hogan in the 33rd minute.
She saw red for an apparent tip tackle on Grace Browne Moran, with referee Tomas O’Sullivan ruling there was no mitigation.
Ulster also had to cope with first-half yellow cards for centres Catherine Martin and Lucinda Kinghan.Ireland co-captain Edel McMahon and Oviawe cancelled out Sophie Barrett’s 14th-minute try to give Connacht a 14-7 half-time lead.
Having fought back for a 25-all draw with Connacht a fortnight ago, Ulster rallied superbly again.
Two Abby Moyles tries got them back level at 19-all, sandwiching a classy Hannah Clarke effort, only for the westerners to outlast their hosts thanks to closing scores from player-of-the-match Oviawe (72 minutes) and Béibhinn Gleeson (81).
This was revenge of sorts for Connacht’s 36-14 defeat to Ulster in the 3rd-4th place play-off from 12 months ago, and a fine way for Emer O’Dowd’s young charges to end the campaign after missing out on that victory in Belfast recently.
Despite the result, Murray Houston’s Ulster outfit, with a number of young players standing out too, coped admirably with the setback of losing Hogan, on the back of Kathryn Dane’s absence due to her Barbarians call-up, and with fellow internationals Fiona Tuite, Vicky Irwin, and Sadhbh McGrath also unavailable.
Both teams got off to a lively start in sunny conditions, with quick ruck ball generated by Connacht who sought out Clarke, a training panellist with the newly-announced Ireland squad, on the left wing.
Ulster regained territory thanks to a couple of purposeful runs from hooker India Daley, who produced a barnstorming individual performance..
When Connacht countered at pace, Martin saw yellow after her knocking on a Shannon Touhey Tierney pass was adjudged to be intentional.
Handling errors prevented Connacht from taking advantage, and a brilliant surge back downfield, with Hogan, Megan Edwards, and Moyles to the fore, led to a kickable penalty which Moyles missed having struck the near left hand post.
However, there was no denying Barrett barely minutes later.
The all-action Daley, and Maebh Clenaghan, ignited the attack, and Connacht covered Edwards out wide, but Barrett burst off the back of a ruck to crash over in superb fashion, aided by Hogan’s latch.
After Moyles had made it a full seven-pointer, Connacht laid the foundations for a swift response.
Browne Moran’s turnover penalty gave them a maul opportunity in Ulster’s 22, only for Lily Brady, who had been throwing well, to misfire at the lineout.Ulster full-back Lauren Farrell McCabe made a crucial tackle on the advancing Oviawe, as Connacht continued to knock on the door.
Daley soon drove her side back past halfway with another eye-catching break off a maul.
There was huge frustration for the westerners in the 28th minute, as Méabh Deely knocked on in the act of scoring. A slick move from a scrum saw Nicole Fowley deftly put the Ireland full-back darting in under the posts, but TMO Colin Stanley spotted separation with the grounding.
Referee O’Sullivan became more of a central figure soon after, as he dismissed Hogan for taking Browne Moran above the horizontal.
The Connacht lock landed on her head, albeit without force, and the match officials reasoned that there was no mitigation.With Kinghan then infringing right on her try-line, following a bustling Sarah Purcell break,
Ulster were down to 13 players and could not hold out. Fowley sent McMahon over from close range, and added the levelling conversion.
Daley dug in at the breakdown to win a much-needed penalty for Ulster, but Connacht squeezed in a second seven-pointer just before the interval.
Fowley’s inviting pass put Oviawe reaching over past tackles from Moyles and Martin.Houston’s resilient side hit back within eight minutes of the restart.
The Ulster forwards applied the pressure, and out-half Moyles was in the right place at the right time to claim an opportunist score after the ball had gone loose from McMahon’s rip on Clenaghan.
Connacht remained in front though, as Moyles’ Oviawe celebrated her call-up as an Ireland training panellist by helping Connacht to a third place finish.
CONNACHT 33 ULSTER 19, Kingspan Stadium
Scorers: Connacht: Tries: Edel McMahon, Faith Oviawe 2, Hannah Clarke, Béibhinn Gleeson; Cons: Nicole Fowley 4
Ulster: Tries: Sophie Barrett, Abby Moyles 2; Cons: Abby Moyles 2
HT: Connacht 14 Ulster 7
CONNACHT: Méabh Deely (Blackrock College RFC); Ava Ryder (Exeter Chiefs), Orla Dixon (Galwegians RFC), Sarah Purcell (Creggs RFC), Hannah Clarke (Tuam/Oughterard RFC); Nicole Fowley (Galwegians RFC) (co-capt), Gráinne Moran (Ballina RFC); Ella Burns (Tuam/Oughterard RFC), Lily Brady (UL Bohemian RFC), Megan Collis (Railway Union RFC), Faith Oviawe (Railway Union RFC), Grace Browne Moran (Galwegians RFC), Béibhinn Gleeson (Tuam/Oughterard RFC), Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs), Shannon Touhey Tierney (Tullamore RFC) (co-capt).
Replacements used: Roisín Maher (Galwegians RFC) for Collis (24 mins), Éabha Nic Dhonnacha (UL Bohemian RFC) for Purcell (50), Emily Foley (Ballina RFC) for Deely (54), Stacy Hanley (Galwegians RFC) for Brady, Ellen Connolly (Galwegians RFC) for Burns, May Goulding (Saracens) for Moran, Orla Fenton (Galwegians RFC) for Browne Moran (all 64), Collis for Maher, Poppy Garvey (Sligo Rugby) for Touhey Tierney (both 73).
ULSTER: Lauren Farrell McCabe (Suttonians RFC); Lucy Thompson (Enniskillen RFC), Catherine Martin (Blackrock College RFC), Lucinda Kinghan (Railway Union RFC), Megan Edwards (Old Belvedere RFC); Abby Moyles (Blackrock College RFC), Rachael McIlroy (Queen’s University Belfast RFC); Ava Fannin (Blackrock College RFC), India Daley (Enniskillen RFC/Blackrock College RFC), Sophie Barrett (Enniskillen RFC/Railway Union RFC), Brenda Barr (Suttonians RFC), Cara O’Kane (Cooke RFC), Moya Hill (Enniskillen RFC), Maebh Clenaghan (Queen’s University Belfast RFC), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC) (capt).
Replacements used: Bronach Cassidy (Queen’s University Belfast RFC) for Fannin (32 mins), Fannin for Barrett, Megan Brodie (Blackrock College RFC) for Cassidy, Stacey Sloan (Cooke RFC) for M Hill (all 54), Barrett for Fannin (65), Paige Smyth (Ballynahinch RFC) for Thompson (69), Christy Hill (Ballymena RFC) for Clenaghan (73). Not used: Ellen Patterson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC), Lauren Patterson (MU Barnhall RFC/Blackrock College RFC), Peita McAlister (Malone RFC).Referee: Tomas O’Sullivan (IRFU)
Brittany Hogan on a charge
Leinster retained the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship title with an impressive 27-7 win over Munster at Kingspan Stadium
