Ulster gave Edinburgh a dose of the January blues as tries from Rory Best, Dan Tuohy, Andrew Trimble and Darren Cave inspired the province to an impressive bonus point victory at Murrayfield.
The return of Ulster’s Ireland internationals to the starting line-up proved too much for Edinburgh as Brian McLaughlin’s chalked up their fifth win in six matches.
Ulster were impressive throughout the entire match and, in truth, would have won by a greater margin had it not been for the concession of two soft tries due to handling errors deep in their own territory.
The first quarter was dominated by the visitors, but by its end they were left trailing on the scoreboard and already deprived of two key players after early injuries picked up by Pedrie Wannenburg and Ian Humphreys.
Before his untimely exit, the out-half kicked Ulster into an early lead with a fourth minute penalty after Edinburgh had strayed offside.
However, the Scots looked lively from the restart, and a home try on eight minutes was only prevented by a crunching last-gasp tackle from Andrew Trimble on Tim Visser.
Humphreys was then able to extend the lead with a 12th minute penalty, but a series of Ulster errors deep in their own half after a loose pass allowed Nick De Luca the simplest of tries, converted by Greig Laidlaw.
A Laidlaw penalty moments afterwards then stretched the gap to four points, but Ruan Pienaar, taking over kicking duties from the injured Humphreys, reduced it to a single point again just shy of the 20-minute mark.
Ulster were back in the lead in the 27th minute courtesy of a terrific team try, Rory Best’s sheer determination carrying him over the line after some intricate build-up play between the forwards and backs, with stand-out work from Darren Cave and Stephen Ferris in particular.
Pienaar’s conversion missed narrowly, but Edinburgh barely had time to draw breath before Ulster struck again with a sublime counter attack.
The try was made thanks to a superb leap-and-take from Trimble after a searching box kick by Humphreys’ replacement Paul Marshall.
The Ireland international made good ground on his wing before supplying Ferris on his shoulder, and the flanker pulled off a subtle flick of the ball to allow Dan Tuohy to touch down another cracking score.
Pienaar’s conversion attempt once again missed by inches, but his team were now in a comfortable position at 19-10 in front.
Edinburgh played out the half pushing for a second close range try, and with Ulster penalised in the dying seconds, Laidlaw was able to kick his team back into contention by reducing the arrears to six points.
Ulster started the second half in exhilarating form. Pienaar restored the nine-point lead with an inch-perfect penalty after 44 minutes.
Trimble wasted no time from the restart, tormenting Visser and the rest of the Edinburgh defence once again after another probing kick from Marshall. He crossed the whitewash for try number three, and Pienaar’s conversion squeezed between the posts for 29-13.
Pienaar added to the Edinburgh pain in the 53rd minute with a penalty from directly in front of the posts, but a second soft try was conceded just before the hour mark.
Edinburgh’s eplacement prop Alan Walker picking up a dropped ball metres from the line to dive over and score. Laidlaw’s conversion kept the tie alive at 32-20.
With a try-scoring bonus point now the main target, Ulster spurned three points, Pienaar kicking for touch from a penalty rather than going for the posts.
However, the attack broke down with a handling error, and Ulster had to bide their time a little longer.
A similar opportunity presented itself with ten minutes remaining, and Chris Henry looked to have grabbed the bonus after good lineout organisation from Ulster, before play was pulled back for a marginal knock on in the build-up.
The elusive bonus point was finally secured in the 76th minute, and the excellent Marshall was once again instrumental.
The wily scrum half did well to identify the space, time his pass astutely and provide the assist for Cave’s neatly-crafted try. Pienaar added the extras to put the result beyond any doubt.
The scoring ended with a last-minute penalty from Pienaar’s boot, and – the nature of the two tries conceded aside – this result certainly served as timely warning to next Friday’s Heineken Cup visitors to Ravenhill, Leicester Tigers.
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