Late tries from Louis Ludik and Paul Marshall secured a 36-17 bonus point victory for Ulster over the plucky Cardiff Blues, as Neil Doak’s men cut Glasgow Warriors’ lead at the top of the GUINNESS PRO12 to just two points.
Early scores from Craig Gilroy and Louis Ludik had set the tone in a frenetic opening quarter at Kingspan Stadium, before an impressive Cardiff comeback in the second half with two tries in quick succession had put the match’s outcome in doubt.
However, a late rally saw the Ulstermen over the line on an emotional night when Stuart Olding, Paddy Jackson and Chris Henry all returned to action – although a substantial knee injury sustained by Olding, early on, marred an otherwise pleasing night for Neil Doak’s side.
Ulster went straight onto the offensive from Jackson’s kick-off, Michael Allen picking up a Cardiff fumble and setting up a protracted attack in which every man from one to 15 got hands on the ball before Jackson’s searching pass to the right wing found Gilroy (pictured below) for his second minute try.
Ruan Pienaar converted from wide, but the collective elation inside the Belfast ground was quickly dampened as Olding was stretchered from the pitch with his right leg heavily strapped from a blow sustained no more than 30 seconds into the match.
Rory Scholes replaced Olding from the bench, but play was again halted seconds after the restart for lengthy treatment to Blues full-back Rhys Patchell, the recipient of a heavy blow to the head from Nick Williams which saw the number 8 yellow carded for dangerous play.
As play eventually resumed, both teams struggled to reestablish the frantic rhythm of the opening five minutes. Nonetheless, Ulster settled the better with Pienaar’s 14th-minute penalty stretching their lead to 10 points.
Then sheer persistence from Jackson, as he chased a long clearance to put pressure on Patchell’s replacement Tom Isaacs five metres from the Cardiff try-line, won Ulster a lineout on the 22.
With the considerable weight of the returning Williams behind the subsequent driving maul, quick hands from captain Darren Cave and again Jackson carved an opening for Ludik to exploit, the full-back resisting three tackles to touch down by the corner flag.
Pienaar’s conversion attempt veered off target but Ulster came again, Allen just failing to touch down his own hack through from Pienaar’s box kick on 24 minutes, with the majority of the crowd clamouring for an infringement by chaser Alex Cuthbert – claims which both referee Marius Mitrea and television match official Alan Rogan refuted after a review of the incident.
Another Pienaar penalty followed on the half hour mark for an 18-0 scoreline before the Blues’ first real sustained attack, which lasted a good eight minutes, saw Franco van der Merwe sin-binned for persistent team infringements. Yet, crucially, even against 14 men, the visitors failed to register any points before the break.
Three more points from the boot of Pienaar opened the second period, before Blues out-half Gareth Anscombe – son of former Ulster head coach Mark – kicked Cardiff’s first points of the encounter. It got even better for the Welsh region on 52 minutes, as a virtuoso solo run from winger Lucas Amorosino carved open the Ulster defence for Isaacs to score a try which Anscombe converted.
Equally incisive running from Scholes (pictured above) got Ulster within metres of try number three before the Blues snatched possession back and hacked clear. Following Henry’s his long-awaited return to action on the hour mark to rapturous applause, Cuthbert added a second try for the ever-improving visitors moments later.
With Ulster only four points ahead following Anscombe’s conversion (21-17), a 65th minute penalty from Pienaar steadied the nerves before a sublime cross-field kick from replacement Ian Humphreys dropped into Ludik’s grateful arms, out wide on the right, for his second try of the night.
Humphreys’ difficult conversion missed the target but it mattered little as, two minutes later, his fellow replacement Paul Marshall ran in the bonus point score after a midfield steal from Rob Herring and an unstoppable surge from Iain Henderson.
With Glasgow Warriors and Leinster bagging four tries and three points apiece in a 34-34 draw in Dublin, Ulster’s remaining fixtures away to Connacht, home to Leinster and Munster and finally away to Glasgow are all now ‘must win’ games as they look to secure a top four finish and a home PRO12 semi-final.
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