Ulster women’s head coach Murray Houston clutched an unopened can of Galahad lager. It’d been in his possession since 2023, one of several he’d bought in the Aldi store near Musgrave Park in Cork to celebrate Ulster’s first win in the women’s interprovincial series in 11 years.He pulled the tab on Saturday afternoon as his charges defied expectations with a 29-10 victory over Connacht. “I was hoping at the time it was only going to be a season before I had to drink it,” he said. “I’ll be polishing this off.”Grey skies, surfaces sodden from early morning rain and a more bracing temperature contrived to make the Dexcom Stadium a little less hospitable initially, although it didn’t detract from its new pin splendour.A rogue alarm and its high-pitched warning provided a shrill backing track that cut through the voices of the Connacht and Ulster players as they tuned up for the afternoon’s opening fixture, the third and fourth place playoff; the aperitif before Munster and Leinster contested the final.Decent weather and playing conditions would have been on the wish list for the finale of the women’s interprovincials as it might have persuaded more through the gates. A quick headcount in the Clan Stand confirmed less than 100 spectators with 15 minutes to kick-off: it might have broached about a thousand by the time the final started.TG4’s live broadcast of the two matches on the station’s YouTube channel had a touch of “better than nothing” about it. Ireland head coach Scott Bemand might have tuned in.An Irish training camp earlier in the week wasn’t ideal, especially for Leinster head coach Sana Govender, who had 11 players up in the HPC. Yet no one complained because the IRFU has tried various slots in the calendar without finding a sweet spot for players and supporters. The appeal of the series has been lukewarm.The lopsided nature of matches in this season’s tournament didn’t help in that respect. Ulster’s suffering is greatest, but no one had escaped a Munster mauling. Houston had a problem going into the series finale, as his side had been thumped 62-0 by Munster and 75-5 by Leinster in their most recent outings. A 15-10 defeat to Connacht on the opening weekend might have seemed a lifetime ago.Ulster’s Stacey Sloan and Siobhan Sheerin celebrate after beating Connacht. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho And yet his team produced their best, a performance without fear, freewheeling in intent, offloading and playing to space while also wedded to a lineout maul that was the jumping off point for three of their tries. The same set piece that the week before had been a shambles. They also piggybacked on Abby Moyles’s kicking game, prodigious and well judged.Houston, assisted by current Ireland and Ulster centre James Hume (backs coach) and former Irish Under-20 Grand Slam winning captain Reuben Crothers (forwards coach), lived every moment, unfiltered.When his team didn’t kick the ball off the park to bring an end to the first half and instead opted for a scrum, a guttural “WHAT” is accompanied by a bang of the desk before his incandescence dies with the scream to be replaced by a more plaintive “please get the ball off”. He cares deeply.A “niggly” training session on Tuesday was a decent augury. “That’s probably the most complete performance from the defensive side of things and to not concede a try in the second half and score one of our own given the conditions reflected that,” Houston said.“There was a bit of frustration in the other rounds. It’s the same messages. We’ve seen everything that we can do throughout the three games at some point, but it’s to get that consistency and just manage the game better.” His players honoured that intention.Munster had been a class apart in the tournament. They retained the title they won last season with a gritty and character-laden 14-5 victory over Leinster. Defence won the game. And luck. Everyone needs a bit of good fortune on occasion.Ireland play the USA in a WXV match in Tallaght on Sunday, September 20th. The gap between those who have international jerseys and those who aspire to them closed a little in some positions.The stop-start nature of the game sucked a fair bit of life out of the atmosphere. The spectators released pent-up tension in unison when the stadium PA blasted out Dolly Parton’s Jolene during a break in play; a crowd pleaser and a respite.Munster and Leinster shake hands after the Interprovincial Series Final. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Munster hooker Beth Buttimer, a dervish in playing style, scored her side’s two tries, the first a sharp close-range plunge, the second as the ball-carrying tail of a lineout maul centipede. Leinster had motive and opportunity, lots of the latter, but lacked the discipline, patience and composure in their opponent’s 22. The rugby they played to get to that point on the pitch was first class.Munster scrambled for their lives. Buttimer offered a window into the mindset. “We went in huddles a few times and spoke about living in this dark place [in terms of the physicality], and that whoever can come out of this dark place alive will win, and I think we did.“To be fair, we talked at half-time about how calm we were on the pitch. Now, I thought that was to our detriment in the first half, [because] we weren’t physical enough. We pride ourselves on being a physical team and winning collisions and I don’t think we did that in the first half.“We asked ourselves questions. Are we doing the province proud, really? Are we representing the crest to the extent we want to? I think in the second half we came out and kept the composure, but [with] that controlled aggression.”[ A smell of irrational denial lingers in the air around Irish rugbyOpens in new window ]Several produced statement performances. Grace Moore, Sally Kelly and Enya Breen were outstanding in a hard-nosed team display, but the collective excellence was to be found in defence. Munster head coach Matt Brown said: “I think when a team gets that many entries into your 22, if you don’t give up a score frequently the confidence builds.“You couldn’t fault our energy or aggression. For us to scramble back and stop pretty much certain scores, that’s testament to their resilience and how hard they work for each other, and I think that’s one thing that’s been kind of consistent.”While the four provincial squads headed out for a night in Galway, Brown raced back to Dublin to take charge of the Munster men’s Under-19 squad that faced Leinster at Energia Park on Sunday. “My stress levels will be through the roof again. It’s great we won. I’m delighted. I’ll probably save my celebrations for a couple of days.”