Ulster off the bottom

Ulster have lifted themselves off the foot of the Magners League table after scoring a 22-6 win against Munster.

The victory was only their second league win of the season, with the result also consigning leaders Munster to their first defeat in any competition.

Two first-half tries saw Ulster's Timoci Nagusa gain the man-of-the-match plaudit, the Fijian winger finishing in devastating fashion.

Munster, who rested most of their star names for the match, simply had no answer to Ulster's pace, passion and precision, both in attack and defence.

Nevertheless, Ulster started in stuttering fashion when Niall O'Connor was guilty of an awful penalty miss.

Munster immediately headed downfield and forced a penalty of their own, with Paul Warwick putting the first points on the board for the visitors.

However, Ulster were showing more appetite for the game and it came as no surprise when they levelled the scores in the 24th minute.

Ian Humphreys kicked the penalty after replacing O'Connor - the latter having departed the field with no obvious sign of injury.

Momentum

Ulster had momentum and struck again in the 28th minute when Paddy Wallace's pop pass freed Nagusa, who jinked and accelerated past three Munster defenders before touching down under the posts.

Humphreys kicked the extras but Ulster were guilty of indiscipline soon afterwards when second rower Ryan Caldwell was sin-binned for cynically taking out Denis Hurley.

Warwick kicked his second penalty, allowing the visitors close Ulster's lead to 10-6.

The home side soon regained the advantage, but Wallace's 33rd-minute surge for the corner was ruled out by the TMO after the ball entered touch.

Four minutes later, however, Nagusa scored his second try after ripping open the Munster cover and sprinting to the left-hand corner from a distance of over 40 metres.

Humphreys missed the conversion, however, with Bryn Cunningham then stopping Ulster from racking up more points by intervening to prevent Anthony Horgan from scoring a long-range kick and chase.

With Caldwell returning to the field, Ulster went into the half-time interval 15-6 ahead.

The second half brought less in the way of scoring but neither did Ulster release their grip on the game.

Humphreys missed a long-range penalty before replacement scrum-half Isaac Boss scored their third after spinning away from a scrum to make the line.

Humphreys added the extras to give the home side an unassailable 22-6 lead.