Ulster Rugby : Ulster A defeat Connacht A 33-24 at Enniskillen

Roger Wilson touches down for Ulster A in Enniskillen yesterday

Ulster A defeat Connacht A 33-24 at Enniskillen

11 March 2008, 6:27 pm

By Anne Perry

Despite terrible weather conditions at Enniskillen, Ulster A recorded a 33-24 victory over Connacht A..read on for more information

Scrumhalf, Paul Marshall scored a try either side of the interval, while winger, Paul McKenzie and No 8, Roger Wilson also crossed and a penalty try was also awarded. Kieran Hallett, a late replacement for David Humphreys who was withdrawn from the side, weighed in with eight points from the boot.

Ulster led 26-5 at the break having played with the strong wind at their backs throughout the first half, Connacht, aided by the breeze in the second half mounted a come-back but not enough to threaten Ulster's lead.

Team Manager Gary Longwell spoke to http://www.ulsterrugby.com/ at final whistle and had this to say,

"I am just delighted, the game was played in very difficult conditions there was a gale force wind coming onto the pitch but despite that the boys played really good rugby.

They started off really well with scrum half Paul Marshall scoring a try in the corner in the 2^nd minute and Paul McKenzie scored an excellent try moments later following on from some good counter attacking from Mark McCrea to give us a good lead.

We had a penalty try in the first half from a collapsed scrum and Roger Wilson drove over for a fourth try just before half time. Connacht scored once in the first half

In the second half the wind conditions favoured Connacht and they used this to score three tries in the second half but we didn’t give up and Paul Marshall scored a fantastic try in the second half”

Gary's Stand Out Players:

"Chris Henry played very well and got through an awful lot of work, Paul Marshall did really well scoring twice. Seamus Mallon came on for 20 minutes and put in some good defensive work and took a lot of big hits.

David McGregor, who is the Ulster Rugby Academy Hooker had a great game in very difficult wind conditions and showed plenty of guts and determination and the line outs worked really well for him”

The game really was a good work out for everybody involved”