Early Tries Steer Ulster Through Cardiff Challenge

Ulster marked their second home game of the season with a hard-fought 23-14 win over Cardiff Blues and put four more points in the bag in the GUINNESS PRO14.

First-quarter tries from Luke Marshall and captain Billy Burns, coupled with 13 points from the reliable right boot of man-of-the-match John Cooney, maintained the province’s impressive home record.

It was an unfortunate start for Ulster when James Hume made a break but in his efforts to offload to centre partner Luke Marshall, he got injured and had to be replaced by versatile back Matt Faddes.

Nonetheless, from an early Cardiff scrum outside their own 22, Jarrod Evans’ attempted clearance kick was charged down by Sean Reidy who sent the onrushing Marshall over for an opening second-minute try. Cooney obliged with the conversion.

Cardiff captain and former Ulster favourite Nick Williams soon got caught offside at the ruck, giving Ulster a penalty from a kickable position where scrum half Cooney made no mistake, leaving it 10-0 with just eight minutes on the clock.

In the 19th minute, after a number of Cardiff infringements and with Ulster in a good territorial position, out-half Burns spotted a gap in the Cardiff defensive line and dotted down just under the posts, making Cooney’s conversion a dead cert.

The greasy ball posed problems for both sides, resulting in a number of loose balls and handling errors throughout the game. Cardiff blindside Will Boyde broke the line and kicked through but he was denied a try by Louis Ludik’s quick thinking and scrambling.

Cardiff, by this point, had been putting a lot of pressure on Ulster. Try scorer Marshall was sin-binned for not rolling away and for an accumulation of infringements by the hosts. Blues centre Willis Halaholo almost found a way through but the Ulster defensive wall remained intact heading into half-time.

Marshall’s absence was felt at the start of the second half, with Ulster’s 17-0 lead quickly eaten into. Cardiff winger Aled Summerhill took advantage of a defensive gap to score to the left of the posts. A potential forward pass in the lead up to the try was deemed good by the match officials, allowing Evans to convert.

Dan McFarland’s men responded immediately when Jason Harries was pinged for blocking off the restart, giving Cooney the chance to slot the penalty over for a 20-7 scoreline.

The second half was a more tightly-contested affair, with disjointed periods of play. Cardiff were beneficiaries of a number of penalty decisions by Scottish referee Mike Adamson. Evans gave the visitors an excellent attacking position with a five-metre lineout.

Retaining possession out of touch, quick ball for for the Welsh regional side led to them having numbers out wide which sent industrious flanker Boyde in for an easy try, which was converted by Evans.

Five minutes later, the Blues were penalised for coming in at the side, and an excellent kick from Burns put Ulster in a favourable position. A Cardiff infringement, just in front of their posts, then made it an easy option to go for goal and Cooney obliged to make it a nine-point game.

It was enough of a buffer for the Ulstermen to maintain their winning ways – they now have three wins out of four and a 15-point tally in Conference A – as neither team could capitalise any further.

Frustratingly for the Blues, they won a penalty during the dying seconds after Ulster were whistled up for going offside. However, young stand-off Evans’ attempt from the tee went wide and the losing bonus point remained out of reach.