Coming into this match Ulster knew they had it all to do, sitting at the foot of European Champions Cup Pool 3 after losing to both Leicester Tigers and Toulon in October.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: ULSTER 24 SCARLETS 9
Tonight’s opponents were the more familiar Welsh side, the Scarlets. Ulster grabbed a last-minute draw with the Llanelli side in the first game of the GUINNESS PRO12 season in September, but this was going to be a far bigger task, with the Welsh region very much still alive in Europe.
Ulster were boosted prematch by the return of Springbok scrum half Ruan Pienaar and Ireland international Dan Tuohy, who had been in try-scoring form before succumbing to a forearm injury at the end of September.
Also returning to the province’s starting line-up were Tommy Bowe and Robbie Diack, after they helped Ireland to a GUINNESS Series clean sweep.
The kick-off was preceded by a perfectly respected minute’s silence in honour of the legendary out-half Jack Kyle. Fittingly, current number 10 Ian Humphreys kicked off with Ulster playing towards the Memorial Stand.
The first 15 minutes seemed to be full of nearly moments and missed chances. The Scarlets were strong in the opening exchanges, stealing the first lineout and catching Pienaar at the back of the ruck as he tried to distribute his first pass since injuring himself playing in the Rugby Championship for South Africa back in August.
Early Scarlets pressure was rewarded as they worked their way up the pitch, winning a simple penalty kick for an Ulster infringement at the breakdown. Rhys Priestland made no mistake as he put his side 3-0 up.
Humphreys, who missed his first shot at the posts, then hung up a perfect garryowen. A quality chase from Craig Gilroy forced Liam Williams to knock on. Ulster went through the phases and won a penalty but Humphreys put his right-sided effort wide of the posts.
Neil Doak’s men began to get their back-line moving as Gilroy ran a great line inside Humphreys, spinning and weaving his way passed three defenders, but the move was blighted by a supporting player going straight in off their feet.
At this point Ulster’s luck started to change, and an overthrown lineout by Scarlets hooker Emyr Phillips was plucked out of the air by Roger Wilson. The ball was recycled and a cheeky dummy followed by quick acceleration allowed Humphreys to break the line, finding Diack and captain Rory Best in support.
After a knock-on, referee Luke Pearce went to TMO Trevor Fisher for a high and late hit on Humphreys. Openside flanker James Davies was the guilty party and promptly sent to the sin-bin.
After failing with the first lineout, Ulster made no mistake on the 14-minute mark. The ball was put through the hands of the back-line, with Humphreys feeding Bowe. The winger ran on and floated a perfect pass back inside to Cave who powered his way to the try-line. Humphreys made no mistake with the conversion.
The Scarlets started handing Ulster chances with loose kicking. Cave was on fire at this point, breaking the line to find the supporting Pienaar with an offload and he managed to shrug off the covering Scott Williams to score just to the left of the posts. Humphreys converted for 14-3.
The Scarlets had the next decent attacking chance with Priestland countering from an Ulster clearance kick, but Phillips threw a loose pass, seemingly killing the opportunity.
Best showed his strength at the breakdown, winning a turnover for the home side. Ulster could not hold onto the ball at the following ruck, allowing Scott Williams to grubber through. Bowe then threw a loose pass which drifted forward, setting up a close-in scrum for the visitors and an eventual three-pointer from priestland.
The Scarlets discipline was again found wanting, shortly afterwards. Louis Ludik was able to cleanly claim a high ball, but to the home crowd’s anger, his opposite number Liam Williams appeared to drive him into the ground head first in the tackle. Referee Pearce agreed and Williams saw yellow.
Ulster’s forwards could not capitalise on the opportunities leading up to half-time, with two wayward lineouts and Best with an early hook at the scrum. Priestland missed a difficult penalty attempt from 45 metres, with the ball drifting to the right of the posts as Ulster led 14-6 at the interval.
Stuart McCloskey replaced Stuart Olding, who took a knock to the head, and neither side really had a try-scoring chance for the first 10 minutes of the second half, with possession switching either way.
A nasty clash of heads between Ulster’s two South African forwards, Wiehahn Herbst and Franco van der Merwe, as they both tackled Jake Ball, meant they both had to leave the pitch. Alan O’Connor and Declan Fitzpatrick were brought on.
The Scarlets created an attacking opportunity as Scott Williams hit a superb line off Priestland, beating Bowe in the process, but the offload was knocked on and the pressure was momentarily off for Ulster. The scrum stood solid as the Kingspan Stadium turf took the pressure.
On 55 minutes replacement lock O’Connor was pinged for not rolling away quickly enough and Priestland stepped up to close the gap to 14-9.
The Ulstermen quickly got back on the front foot, Pienaar finding a good touch on the right initially. The Scarlets won a turnover but a huge hit by Bowe on Scott Williams saw possession back with Doak’s side.
The Monaghan man soon popped up again, a clever move from an attacking scrum 12 metres out seeing Nick Williams and Pienaar go to the right where Bowe (pictured below) was found and he did well to ground the ball by the corner flag. Humphreys missed the touchline conversion.
Another fine bit of breakdown work by Best won a relieving penalty for Ulster and Humphreys cleared downfield. Ulster pressed again from a Bowe aerial take, Humphreys prodding the ball forward and Gilroy and Ludik forcefully tackled Gareth Owen in touch.
It was an attritional phase of the game as the Scarlets rung the changes and Doak also had to dip into his reserves. Nick Williams limped off and McCloskey left the pitch holding his arm, with Clive Ross and Michael Allen being introduced.
Ulster’s lineout drive was starting to dominate, first winning a penalty which Pienaar popped right into the corner. Diack was able to take the lineout at the tail, and Ulster were only going to do one thing.
With the crowd behind them, the maul started moving forward and was driven over the line with Best (pictured below) the man to dot down and the bonus point was in the bag at 24-9.
The Scarlets kicked a penalty to the corner, only for Tuohy to disrupt at the resulting lineout. Wayne Pivac’s charges retained possession but strong Ulster defence around the fringes forced the Welshmen to go wide and lose the ball in the tackle.
Pienaar picked up a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, leaving the pitch to a warm reception from the Ulster fans. The 14-man hosts duly worked their way out of pressure with a series of scrum and maul penalties to close out a successful night that keeps their European hopes alive.
Giving his reaction afterwards, Ulster head coach Neil Doak said: “We’ve got ourselves back in the mix to make sure we’ve got something to play for next week (in Llanelli). I’m sure they will want to change a few things at home next week and it’s going to be difficult going over there.
“We have to be strong with our platform. Our lineout wasn’t as good as we would have liked tonight. There was a bit of panic when the rain came down because we knew conditions were going to be difficult and we needed a bonus point victory.
“Great credit to the guys for sticking in there and getting the five points in the end. We’re very happy with the result and the boys delivered with a good mauling try at the end. I’d asked them for two like that before the game, but I’m happy with just the one.
“We needed to be patient and to keep on building pressure and territory. We knew the Scarlets were going to come and throw things at us, but we stuck at it and scrambled well in defence at times.”
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