Connacht Women salvaged some belated pride from their 2015 interprovincial campaign, beating Ulster 15-12 in Portadown on Saturday.
The victory, while far from flawless, was the most complete of the three, said co-coach Luke O’Donnell.
“It was a bit of a dogfight played across the length and breadth of the park. Ulster scored first, we hit back a couple of times to go five ahead, and then they took the lead with about 18 or 19 minutes to go.
“I told them they only needed one perfect passage of play to get back on top, and they delivered it from the kick-off. The girls strung several phases together, created an overlap, and Emma Clery (12 ) gassed two and crashed over a third to go 15-12 up with quarter of an hour left.”
Far from finished, however, Ulster spent the final eight minutes camped on the Connacht line, but the visitors held firm to take third place on the interpro leader board, behind champions Munster and runners-up Leinster.
“Defensively we’re pretty solid. It’s certainly something we worked on, but we fought very hard to score interpro tries this year, none of them came easily.” O’Donnell said.
Connacht scorers: Senetima Naoupu, Mairead Coyne, Emma Clery, one try each.
