Ulster left Wales empty-handed despite scoring the game’s opening try as the Scarlets put in a strong second half performance that yielded four tries and a bonus point.
Centre Stuart McCloskey gave Ulster a dream start at Parc y Scarlets with a try after just two minutes. Scarlets out-half Dan Jones tried to release winger Corey Baldwin with a cross-field kick, but Tommy Bowe jumped highest to catch the ball and launch a counter attack.
The 34-year-old winger showed he has lost none of his pace by outstripping the defence before popping the ball inside to McCloskey, who dummied the last defender to dart over. Scrum half John Cooney converted to give his side a seven-point head-start.
Jones opened the Scarlets’ account on nine minutes after Ulster kept the Welsh side out following numerous phases in the 22. Try scorer McCloskey failed to release in the tackle, though, and the hosts’ out-half slotted over the easy kick from in front of the posts.
In a key moment in the game, Nick Timoney had a try disallowed on the half hour mark. Neat link-up play between Cooney and Timoney off a ruck and the latter’s inside pass put McCloskey bursting through a gap. The openside took a return pass and had the speed to sprint clear from just outside the Scarlets 22.
However, referee Ian Davies, in consultation with TMO Sean Brickell, chalked the well-worked score off as they ruled Bowe had obstructed Scarlets scrum half Jonathan Evans at the ruck and prevented him from plugging a gap in defence.
With scoring opportunities at a premium, it was a big momentum shift as Ulster, instead of leading by 11 points, went in at the interval with a narrow 7-3 lead. The Scarlets stung the province with their opening try, four minutes after the restart. Tadhg Beirne, the eventual man-of-the-match, made the hard yards in the Ulster 22 before the ball was spun wide for centre Paul Asquith to put winger Ioan Nicholas over in the corner.
Jones’ successful conversion from a tight angle was cancelled out when the Scarlets gifted Ulster three point. Flanker James Davies was caught offside in front of his own posts and Cooney landed the routine place-kick to level the sides at 10 points apiece.
Nonetheless, it was the Welshmen who kicked on for a runaway victory as Ulster allowed their performance levels to slip and they duly fell out of contention. The 43-36 defeat of the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth in round 8 remains their only away win in the Championship since September.
A Jones penalty restored the Llanelli outfit’s lead before Ryan Conbeer, on his PRO14 debut, ran in a terrific solo try in the 57th minute. The teenager showed impressive speed and footwork to beat four Ulster defenders and dash in under the posts, with Jones adding the conversion for a 20-10 scoreline.
Centre Asquith got the home side’s third try on 64 minutes when the Munster-bound Beirne again made a powerful carry before the ball was released to the backs. Jones put a kick behind the defence for the Australian Sevens specialist to catch and touch down, with Jones supplying the extras.
The 19-year-old Nicholas had a try ruled out from the restart for a knock-on in the build-up, but the Scarlets got their bonus point just over three minutes from the end when ever-influential blindside Beirne stripped Timoney at the base of a scrum to roll over for a fourth converted try.
After a frustratingly one-sided second half, Ulster are now five points behind third-placed Edinburgh in Conference B of the PRO14. Head coach Jono Gibbes told the Belfast Telegraph: “It was 7-3 at half-time and we’d had a try disallowed. We felt like we knew what needed to be done and we talked about the things that were going to make a difference in the second half.
“We were going to try and put them under pressure. I thought the Scarlets were fantastic in the second half and they were certainly clinical when they put us under pressure and we didn’t react to that pressure well at all.”
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