Late kicks and sad farewells – Ulster and semi-final drama

Ulster will face Exeter Chiefs on Saturday as they look to book a trip to Bilbao in the European Challenge Cup final.

The Irish province’s trophy drought stretches back to their 2006 triumph in the old Celtic League.

Ulster were last in a semi-final four years ago in the United Rugby Championship, and their most recent in Europe was back in 2021.

Richie Murphy’s side will be firmly focused on taking down Exeter, but how have Ulster fared in their last five semi-final ties?

With late drama and demolition jobs, it has been a mixed bag.

Going to South Africa is not an easy challenge for any side, but Ulster were mere seconds away from beating the Stormers in their own backyard.

Ulster led 15-10 at half-time as Robert Baloucoune and Stewart Moore cancelled out early tries from JJ Kotze and Evan Roos in Cape Town.

Scores were hard to come by in the second half, and Dan McFarland’s team had a man advantage for the final 10 minutes when Arde Smith was sent off for making contact with the face of Iain Henderson.

But there was a late twist.

Warrick Gelant’s try drew the Stormers level with the clock in the red, and Manie Libbok, who missed his two earlier conversions, nailed the difficult kick from out wide to seal a 17-15 win and crush Ulster’s dreams.

It felt like a real missed opportunity.

Of course, you need little reminder about how different sport was throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, as fans had to stay away and, when matches resumed, they were played in empty stadiums.

In 2021, Ulster travelled to Leicester Tigers in the Challenge Cup semi-finals – their first time in the last four of a European competition since 2012.

Things were looking good as McFarland’s side held an 11-point lead at half time thanks to tries from Henderson and Billy Burns, but Leicester came out fighting after the restart.

Quickfire tries from Jasper Wiese and Ellis Genge saw the hosts turn the game around by the 60-minute mark.

Guy Porter’s late try sealed the win, and the 18th point of the game from the boot of George Ford condemned Ulster to a semi-final exit.

Another Covid semi-final, but a different result for Ulster.

After the URC was put on hold because of the Coronavirus pandemic, rugby resumed behind closed doors in August 2020.

While Ulster lost against Connacht and Leinster in the first fixtures back, it was still enough to book a place in the last four.

Edinburgh stood in their way, and it looked to be going the way of the hosts as Stuart McInally, Darcy Graham and Chris Dean gave them a 19-7 lead.

However, Ulster rallied and drew level with five minutes left thanks to tries from Rob Herring and John Andrew, and Ian Madigan’s excellent touchline conversion.

With the scores level and the clock in the red, Madigan then nailed a long-distance penalty to spark wild celebrations.

Leinster denied Ulster the ultimate prize in the final, but Madigan’s moment was still one to remember.

Ulster travelled to Glasgow in 2019 with hopes of reaching the Pro14 final and to give retiring stalwarts Rory Best and Darren Cave a winning farewell, but they were dismantled by the hosts.

Former Ulster wing Tommy Seymour opened the floodgates with his first try of the game.

Ali Price, Rob Harley, Seymour, Kyle Steyn, and both Peter and George Horne all scored further tries for the hosts.

Marcell Coetzee, Rob Herring and Michael Lowry touched down for Ulster, but the damage had been done.

The final score was 50-20, and it didn’t exactly flatter Glasgow, who had put in a superb display.

Heading into the last four of the 2015-16 Pro12 season, Ulster had lost five of their previous six league semi-finals.

But momentum was on their side as Les Kiss’ side won five of their final six matches in the regular season to secure a semi-final spot ahead of Scarlets and Munster.

With the famous faces of Rory McIlroy and Niall Horan watching on, any hopes of a trophy were brutally ended by Leinster in a 30-18 loss at the RDS.

Isa Nacewa’s early try and Johnny Sexton’s boot had the hosts 13-0 up but Craig Gilroy’s try helped Ulster hit back.

Jamie Heaslip and Sean Cronin tries put Leinster 30-11 up before Gilroy snapped up his second try of the game, but the hosts had too much as they booked their place in the final, which they lost to Connacht.