Ulster eclipsed the high drama of last Saturday’s slender victory over the Scarlets with an even narrower defeat of Edinburgh. After trailing for most of the match, John Cooney’s nerves of steel once again made the difference as he delivered the win thanks to another last-gasp penalty.
Excellent throughout and the creator of the province’s second try, John Cooney sealed the victory with the very last kick of the game, bringing his tally for the night to 20 points as fast-starting Edinburgh’s 23-6 lead was eventually erased.
Will Addison, who delivered a storming performance from full-back, had started the Ulster revival with their first try of the season well into the third quarter, rapidly followed by a superb solo effort from Craig Gilroy, a deserving winner of the man-of-the-match award.
Jordi Murphy’s first start in white and red, with Sean Reidy dropping to the bench, was one of four personnel changes made by head coach Dan McFarland after the 15-13 defeat of the Scarlets, with captain Rob Herring replacing John Andrew at hooker, Ross Kane in for Tom O’Toole at prop, and Kieran Treadwell preferred to Alan O’Connor in the second row.
Elsewhere Ulster lined up unchanged, with Addison at full-back, Gilroy and Henry Speight on the wings, and Darren Cave combining with last weekend’s man-of-the-match Stuart McCloskey in the centre. Billy Burns won his second cap at out-half, alongside Cooney who was fresh from signing a new extension to his contract with the province to take him up to 2022.
Poor discipline proved Ulster’s downfall in a lacklustre first quarter. Two early penalties from New Zealander Simon Hickey put the hosts under pressure straight from the off, but aggressive closing-down from Henderson as Edinburgh dawdled over a loose ball on their own five-metre line offered immediate encouragement.
Incisive breaks from Cave and Gilroy followed, but Edinburgh made better use of the ball when they had it and deserved Tom Brown’s 14th-minute try when Henry Pyrgos’ long looped pass sailed over a threadbare Ulster defence for the winger to touch down.
Hickey converted and, 13 points adrift already, Ulster opted for touch with their next penalty. A further infringement followed shortly, and after a protracted break for an injury to Edinburgh centre Mark Bennett, Cooney went for the posts and duly opened the home account.
Frustratingly, however, another Ulster infringement straight from the restart gifted Hickey another three points, clawed back by a Cooney penalty in the 26th minute. Then a lineout steal from Treadwell promised much until Gilroy knocked on in the tackle, but a sublime penalty to touch from Burns set up a cross-field move which saw debutant Murphy just put a toe in touch before grounding the ball in the left corner.
It was Ulster’s last chance of a first half that Edinburgh went on to close out in the safety of the opposition 22, sending the Scots off at the break with a healthy 16-5 lead. McFarland’s half-time team talk appeared to have the desired effect, though, as an energised Ulster enjoyed a good eight-minute monopoly on possession when play resumed.
Addison’s pace and trickery, in particular, caused Edinburgh problems but crucially the score did not come, and the Kingspan Stadium crowd was stunned into silence when replacement back James Johnstone capitalised on a turnover to run in a breakaway try for the visitors.
Stung by that concession and now 23-6 adrift, Ulster’s comeback began in earnest on 54 minutes, Addison landing the try his performance deserved after a quickly-taken restart by Speight and a strong hand-off from Cooney, who added the extras.
A fourth Hickey penalty within moments made Ulster’s task all the more difficult, but more sterling work from Addison – this time a pinpoint pass to send Cooney clear for his 60th minute try – brought Ulster to within a converted try at 26-20 once the scrum half had split the posts.
No more than five minutes were needed. Speight worked wonders from a turnover in the Ulster 22, scything diagonally through the Edinburgh line before offloading to Cooney, who fed Gilroy wide right. The winger tore up the 40 metres to the line, evading two tacklers for a fine individual score, converted by Cooney for a sudden one-point lead.
Edinburgh’s chance to snatch back the victory came with four minutes remaining – and Hickey’s aim was once again flawless as he split the posts from the Ulster 10-metre line. But failure to release in the tackle right at the death got the Scots in hot water on their own 10-metre line, and Cooney coolly slotted home to give Ulster another very hard-earned four points.
Giving his reaction afterwards, Ulster assistant coach Dwayne Peel said: “That was exciting at the end! The position we were in and we managed to fight our way back into the game. I thought it showed great spirit from us and we finished off some really good plays in the second half.
“In the first half we had a few line-breaks, similar to last week (against the Scarlets), but some of the stuff in the second half was really good, both sides of the ball. We hustled hard in defence on occasion and we took some good tries.
“I’m really pleased, it was a tough game. We played Edinburgh towards the end of last season and we were on the other end of exactly the same situation (losing by a point). For me, yeah, we were disappointed to give away that last penalty, but we showed great spirit to rush out. Big Al O’Connor, that was an amazing take on that drop-out, we showed great desire to get the ball. The desire all night was good.”
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