Ulster’s misery goes on but at last there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.
However at one stage it looked like the Northern province was in for another whitewash but a storming second half in particular almost turned this Champions Cup clash around at a deserted Aviva Stadium, where the match had been move to on account of an unplayable pitch at Ravenhill.
Skipper Iain Henderson was proud of that second half performance against La Rochelle as they rallied back to claim two bonus-points in the 36-29 reverse.
At one stage in the first half, the men in white were facing humiliation after going 29-0 down but they showed commendable spirit in their comeback which just fell short of achieving parity or a victory.
“I do feel the players in the second half put on a performance they should be proud of,” said Henderson. “If you look at a few of their tries, they're probably bounce of the ball stuff. I feel that we can take frustration from that, but also take great confidence from that. They’re an incredible team, they’ve done what they’ve done over the last few seasons because they’re an incredible team and we had to be wary of that, and we weren’t in the first half.”
A melee breaks out between Northampton Saints vs Munster at the Cinch Stadium, Franklin's Gardens, Northampton. INPHO/DAN SHERIDAN
Rowntree happy at Munster win
Conversely Munster’s director of rugby Graham Rowntree was delighted with his side’s “huge” win away at Northampton on Sunday.
After losing the previous week they had to grit it out to record a 17-6 victory thanks to a Gavin Coombes brace of touchdowns with Joey Carbery adding the conversions plus a penalty.
Said Rowntree: "There was a lot riding on this game and it's a huge win for us and the manner in which we achieved it. We picked up three yellow cards and we had to dig in but our defensive effort was exceptional with players getting up off the floor to help the man next to them.
“We can't have players in the sin-bin like that so we will need to review that. We'd like to have been more glamorous but it's a massive win for us going forward,” he enthused.
Leinster trounce shadow Gloucester side
On Friday night, high-flying Leinster destroyed a shadow Gloucester outfit at the RDS 57-0 to win pulling up as they touched down nine times over the 80 minutes.
Hooker Ronan Kelleher gobbled up a brace in the first half with winger James Lowe, flanker Josh van der Flier and second-rower James Ryan all scoring tries to give the home side a 31-0 half-time lead.
These scores were augmented by scrum-half Luke McGrath with Lowe again dotting down as well as Jordan Larmour and Caelan Doris.
A major plus of the night saw Johnny Sexton come on for the last 20 minutes and appeared to be over his recent injury problems.
Connacht’s Oisin McCormack, Niall Murray, Colm Reilly and Darragh Murray celebrate their win after the game in France. INPHO/BRYAN KEANE
Connacht survive Brive fightback
In the Challenge Cup, Connacht had to mount a massive rearguard action to emerge victorious by 31-24 against Brive in France.
The Western province led 28-3 early in the second half and looked to have their day’s work done as they also had a man advantage following the red carding of Abraham Papali'i after 23 minutes.
However three tries in the last 20 minutes had Connacht sweating as the hosts recovered to secure a losing bonus-point.
