A two-try blast from Darren Cave was the highlight of a measured performance from Ulster as they saw off the Cardiff Blues to move to the top of the RaboDirect PRO12 table.
Despite the absence of many key figures currently competing in the Rugby World Cup, the Ulster starting line-up had a familiar look to it, with one notable exception.
New Zealand international Jared Payne made his debut for the province at full-back, relegating the thus far ever-present Adam D’Arcy to the bench.
In spite of a traditional Ravenhill Friday night downpour at kick-off, Payne showed his pedigree as early as the first minute.
The Kiwi collected a greasy high ball from a Cardiff clearance and earned a quick penalty, which was spurned by Ian Humphreys from just inside the 10-metre line.
Humphreys atoned for the miss just moments later from a more central position well inside the Cardiff 22, and, as the teeming rain suddenly stopped, Ulster powered their way back into Blues territory with Payne again looking lively.
He beat several men with ball in hand before delivering a marginally forward pass to Craig Gilroy, who was one of the try scorers in last weekend’s win over Aironi.
With Cardiff penalised once more on the quarter hour mark, this time for intentionally interfering with the ball as Paul Marshall extracted it from the scrum, Humphreys had the chance to double the lead but, again, dragged the kick wide.
His poor run continued four minutes later with a third miss – this time from just inside the Ulster half – and as the half progressed Ulster proved unable to convert their lion’s share of possession into points.
A sublime high take and weaving run from Gilroy on the half hour seemed to spur Ulster into a higher gear, however, and the same player was instrumental in the 29th minute try.
The Dungannon clubman cut inside from his right wing berth and carved up the Cardiff defence line until he was stopped a handful of metres from the line. Darren Cave was on hand to pick up and travel the short distance to the whitewash. Humphreys adds the extras for a 10-0 lead.
With Ulster now turning the screw, Cave was again in the right place four minutes later to finish a swift cross-field movement orchestrated by the quick hands of Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence and Gilroy.
The centre slid over in the right corner to double his try-scoring tally. Humphreys’ conversion was neatly struck and sent the home side in at the break 17 points to the good.
With Cave withdrawn at half-time due to a leg injury picked up at the close of the first period, D’Arcy came on to fill in at centre, but Ulster’s momentum rolled on unabated.
Cardiff were reduced to 14 men when their number 8 Xavier Rush was sin-binned for a dangerous high tackle around the neck of home flanker Pedrie Wannenburg.
Ulster struggled to make their numerical superiority count, however, and indeed it was the Blues who applied the greater pressure during Rush’s ten-minute exile, albeit without managing to open their account.
The Welshmen eventually got off the mark in the 66th minute courtesy of Ceri Sweeney’s well-struck penalty, and with Humphreys clattered by a hard-hitting tackle four minutes later, Ireland Under-20 out-half Paddy Jackson came on to win his fourth senior cap.
Jackson was able to make his cameo appearance count as the Blues were penalised with just three minutes left, and the youngster slotted over his first ever league points from inside the 22 to confirm a comfortable Ulster victory.
Brian McLaughlin’s men even had time to chalk up two further near misses before the final whistle, with both Payne and Wannenburg being crowded out before they could reach the try-line.
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