Affidea Stadium was a winter wonderland for Ulster as they continued their impressive season with a dominant 28-3 win against a poor Munster in Belfast.
On a freezing, snowy night, Richie Murphy's side flexed their muscles with 22 unanswered second half points to climb above their provincial rivals into second in the URC table, although Glasgow will have the chance to go ahead of them on Saturday.
The northern province bullied Munster throughout, with Clayton McMillan's side failing to land a significant punch on their hosts, while they were also left counting the cost of the defeat with injuries to both John Hodnett and Alex Kendellen.
Neither side impressed in a dour first half as Ulster led 6-3 at the break, with Nathan Doak landing two penalties, and JJ Hanrahan registering Munster's only points of the game.
But the home side were far improved in the second 40, with tries for Tom Stewart, Jake Flannery and the highly impressive Bryn Ward sealing a statement win, ending a run of three successive defeats to their rivals.
Ulster dominated with their kicking game early on, and it was James Hume's big kick-chase which forced Mike Haley to infringe on five minutes, allowing Doak to knock over a penalty to send his side in front.
The Ulster scrum-half, who signed a contract extension this week, added another three-pointer on 24 minutes after Hanrahan was pinged for offside, although the Munster out-half cut the deficit with a penalty of his own shortly after to make it a 6-3 game.
Both sides struggled with their handling in the opening half; Werner Kok and Zac Ward were looking lively in attack for Ulster although they missed out on a huge chance late in the first half when Jacob Stockdale spilled a pass from Jack Murphy. On the Munster side, Jean Kleyn was guilty of a poor knock-on in a good position, while Paddy Patterson's wayward pass was spilled by Michael Ala'alatoa.
The second half was only a couple of minutes old when Doak pushed Ulster out to a 9-3 lead after Kendellen was penalised for not rolling away at a breakdown, and they continued to build pressure, Stockdale coming close to scoring in the corner only for the TMO to rule a knock-on.
The home side had been playing with penalty advantage at the time, and they soon made it count, as Stewart continued his impressive form with the opening try of the game, wriggling his way over the line with the help of Angus Bell, on the third phase of a tap-and-go penalty.
That try seemed to loosen Ulster up, and they were back down in the 22 a few minutes later when Doak chased a clever grubber kick by Cormac Izuchukwu, forcing Haley to knock the ball into touch.
Munster survived the initial attack, but when Iain Henderson won a big turnover on the ground on 56 minutes, Ulster moved it wide, with Murphy's pass out to Kok allowing the South African tee the ball up for Flannery who ran in to score against his home province, extending the lead to 21-3.
Kok came close to a try of his own on 61 minutes only to be forced into touch, before a couple of quick penalties gave Munster a rare foray into the Ulster 22, but a knock-on by Kleyn ended that attack, which would be their last meaningful effort with the ball in hand.
On 72 minutes, Bryn Ward got the try his performance deserved when he shoved his way over from close range, converted by Doak to put the result beyond doubt at 28-3.
And while the home side pushed for a bonus-point score, they couldn't cap off the night with one more try, although their head coach Murphy won't lose much sleep over it after his side pulled off their most impressive win of the campaign.
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