Bowe And Trimble Touch Down In Ulster Defeat
Ireland wingers Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble both scored tries on their return to action for Ulster but it was not enough to avoid a 23-10 pre-season defeat to Edinburgh at Goldenacre.
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY: Friday, August 28
EDINBURGH 23 ULSTER 10, Goldenacre
Scorers: Edinburgh: Tries: Magnus Bradbury, Otulea Katoa; Cons: Nathan Fowles 2; Pens: Nathan Fowles, Jack Cuthbert 2
Ulster: Tries: Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble
Ulster were hit with the late withdrawal of Ian Humphreys, who suffered a hamstring injury in the warm-up, so Sam Windsor came into the starting line-up. The visitors dominated the opening half hour but only had a Tommy Bowe try to show for their efforts, as Edinburgh scored two tries in a six-minute spell to go into half-time 17-5 ahead.
Bowe had a scintillating break early on but the hosts scrambled back and managed to win a turnover at the following ruck. It was Edinburgh who opened the scoring in the 16th minute through a penalty from scrum half Nathan Fowles after a breakdown infringement.
Ulster had the perfect response as Bowe went over in the right hand corner after a superb initial break by Stuart McCloskey. The powerful centre took a lovely pass from out-half Windsor and charged through before producing an exquisite offload to Craig Gilroy, who in turn found Bowe for an easy finish. Windsor’s conversion attempt was off target.
The Ulstermen continued to control proceedings but found no way through. Edinburgh then hit back with a period of possession in the Ulster 22 and after a series of close range drives, Magnus Bradbury forced his way over. Fowles added the conversion to put his team into a 10-5 lead after 34 minutes.
The Scottish side touched down again on the stroke of half-time courtesy of Otulea Katoa. Out-half Phil Burleigh was the architect for the score as his beautifully delayed pass sent Nick McLennan through to feed the Tongan speedster. Again, Fowles added the extras, giving his team a 17-5 advantage at the break.
Neil Doak’s charges started the second period positively but as with most of the first 40 minutes, the Edinburgh defence held firm. The Scots also had a few opportunities but there were no scores in the third quarter.
Eventually Ulster found a breakthrough as Andrew Trimble took a great line and a big reach saw him cross the whitewash. With Windsor coming off for David Shanahan, Luke Marshall took over the kicking duties but skewed his conversion attempt wide.
Edinburgh replacement Jack Cuthbert knocked over two late penalties to put the game beyond doubt and seal a 23-10 success for the hosts. Ulster will look for a much more clinical performance next week against the Ospreys in their first competitive game of the season. Click here to book tickets for the province’s 2015/16 GUINNESS PRO12 opener.
EDINBURGH: Nick McLennan; Tom Brown, Chris Dean, Andries Strauss, Otulea Katoa; Phil Burleigh, Nathan Fowles; Grant Shiells, Neil Cochrane, John Andress, Anton Bresler, Fraser McKenzie, Jamie Ritchie, Roddy Grant (capt), Cornell du Preez.
Replacements (from): James Hilterbrand, Allan Dell, Craig Bachurzewski, Alex Toolis, Mike Coman, Sean Kennedy, Blair Kinghorn, Sam Beard, George Turner, Rory Sutherland, Ben Toolis, Magnus Bradbury, Hamish Watson, Nasi Manu, James Johnstone, Dougie Fife, Damien Hoyland, Jack Cuthbert.
ULSTER: Craig Gilroy; Tommy Bowe, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Andrew Trimble; Sam Windsor, Paul Marshall; Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring (capt), Wiehahn Herbst, Dan Tuohy, Franco van der Merwe, Clive Ross, Sean Reidy, Robbie Diack.
Replacements (from): Paul Jackson, Ruaidhri Murphy, Ricky Lutton, Peter Browne, Willie Faloon, David Shanahan, Sam Arnold, Louis Ludik, Peter Nelson, Conor Joyce.