Ulster made it five wins from five thanks to three penalties from Paddy Jackson in a tight encounter with the Ospreys, who had led for the majority of the game through an early converted try from prop Nicky Smith.
Still top of the GUINNESS PRO12 table on 21 points thanks to tonight’s victory at Kingspan Stadium, Les Kiss’ side left it late to take the points – Paddy Jackson’s final penalty sealing it with only a minute remaining on the clock.
Deprived of three high profile centres in the form of Luke Marshall, Stuart Olding and Stuart McCloskey through injury, Ulster had five personnel changes and four positional switches from last weekend’s defeat of Glasgow Warriors.
Rory Best made a welcome return at hooker for his first start of the campaign, joined in the front row by Kyle McCall and Rodney Ah You. Franco van der Merwe, captaining the side tonight, and Alan O’Connor continued in the second row, while Sean Reidy and Roger Wilson retained their places at the back of the scrum, alongside Robbie Diack, a late replacement for Iain Henderson.
Multiple changes among the backs saw Charles Piutau move to full-back, Craig Gilroy line up on the right wing with Louis Ludik shifting to the left, while Jared Payne joined last week’s try scorer Darren Cave in midfield. Jackson, also on the scoresheet at Scotstoun, continued at number 10 alongside scrum half Paul Marshall who took over from Ruan Pienaar.
Ulster’s defensive mettle was put to the test early on as the Ospreys charged out of the blocks, and despite astute tackling in midfield from Cave and on the wing from Ludik, loosehead Nicky Smith eventually barged over on five minutes, his try converted by Dan Biggar.
Try as they might, the hosts failed to hold onto the ball for any sustained period but, after a close shave on 15 minutes when Alun Wyn Jones’ sidestep got the Ospreys to the Ulster five-metre line, a lineout steal from Best and hearty chase from Gilroy promised much until the ball slipped from Payne’s hands as he bore down on the 22.
Jackson missed the chance to settle Ulster nerves on 23 minutes with a penalty that he screwed just wide of the upright, but a bulldozing run from Ah You from the restart set up the best Ulster chance to date, going awry with the final pass from Ludik to Cave as the centre raced down the wing for a nailed-on score – had he collected the pass.
Jackson atoned for his earlier miss just before the half hour from wide on the right, but while Ulster ended the first half in the ascendancy, genuine scoring opportunities were conspicuous by their absence, and the half-time whistle came as something of a relief for all – 7-3.
A high tackle from Josh Matavesi on Ludik gifted Jackson a cheap three points early into the second half, before another combination of sloppy passing and poor handling – this time from Piutau and Gilroy respectively – put paid to a promising break down the right.
Another missed penalty from Jackson on 50 minutes kept Ulster playing catch-up when on the balance of play they perhaps deserved to edge it on the scoresheet.
Reinforcements in the form of Pienaar and Tommy Bowe joined the fray just before the hour mark – in place of Marshall and Gilroy – but still the breakthrough would not come, and only a try-saving tackle from Payne on Eli Walker kept Ulster in contention with 15 minutes to play.
An errant drop goal attempt from Biggar after 10 minutes of good Ospreys pressure swung the momentum back in Ulster’s favour, although the Welsh region defended well to contain play between halfway and the home 22.
That was until a penalty at scrum time allowed Pienaar to kick deep into the visitors’ half for the lineout with three minutes to go. Ulster drew the penalty in front of the posts and Jackson, untroubled by his 50% scoring record on the night, slotted over to seal the narrowest of victories.
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