Frustrated Ulster Fall To The Scarlets

Errors, particularly in the tackle department, blighted Ulster’s first match in this season’s Magners League as the Llanelli Scarlets took four points away from Ravenhill thanks to a Darren Daniel try and 11 points from the boot of Stephen Jones.

This was Ulster’s fourth successive defeat to a Welsh region and a far from ideal way for Matt Williams to begin his first full season in charge at Ravenhill.

Mistakes that should have been ironed out in pre-season came to bear as the Irish province fell 10-0 behind and never looked like hitting top form.

Early days as they are, there were a few plus points for Williams to consider.

South African prop BJ Botha had a dynamic debut, helping to stabilise the set-piece, while the manner in which Ulster fought back to claim a losing bonus point was also heartening.

This was a much-needed win for the Scarlets and new coach Nigel Davies will be hoping it can be the start of a new dawn for the region, tying in nicely with their forthcoming move to Parc y Scarlets.

The seven-point success certainly ticked a few boxes – it was Llanelli’s first win on the league’s opening weekend for four years, it ended a run of five successive league losses and was their first win over Irish opposition since they overcame Ulster at Stradey Park last October.

When you also consider that the Scarlets had lost on all five of their previous league visits to Ravenhill, it just adds to the sense of achievement for Simon Easterby and his team-mates.

They know one result does not make a season but it is something to build on ahead of their Welsh derby showdown with the Dragons next Wednesday.

That composed start, when played into the driving wind and rain, saw Davies’ men take Friday’s game by the scruff of the neck.

Their passing, particularly around the fringes, was much more crisper than Ulster’s and an early infringement led to Stephen Jones kicking the visitors ahead on the scoreboard.

Full-back Clinton Schifcofske, one of five newcomers in the Ulster line-up, missed a chance to reply five minutes later.

And Llanelli moved further ahead in the 18th minute when Ireland international Andrew Trimble’s defence was badly exposed.

Stationed on the left wing, Trimble looked to have Darren Daniel covered after he had been put into space by a neat passing movement involving backs and forwards.

However, having shown him the outside, Trimble was left flailing as Daniel brilliantly skipped around him and the 21-year-old had the gas to the make the try line.

Jones added the conversion to move the Scarlets 10-0 ahead with only 20 minutes played.

Drawing on their solid pre-season work and the vocal crowd present, Ulster did up their game before the interval. The narrowed the gap to just 10-9 as Schifcofske started to find his range in the difficult conditions.

He bisected the posts after 20 and 23 minutes as the home side got back on track, despite losing influential second row Carlo Del Fava to a shoulder injury.

As the Scarlets began to lose their shape and discipline, Ulster’s Australian goal-kicker notched another late penalty to reduce the arrears to a single point.

However, facing into the elements for the second half, the home side just could not exert enough control to put the Scarlets under pressure.

Speaking after the game, Wales star Stephen Jones praised his forwards for presenting him and his fellow backs with ‘a great platform’ to use the ball intelligently in the conditions.

Newcomers like Southern Hemisphere trio Kees Meeuws, Simon Maling and David Lyons have gelled quickly into the Scarlets pack, and Deacon Manu and Vernon Cooper also made telling contributions in the final quarter.

Three minutes after the break, Jones added some much-needed cushion to the Scarlets’ lead.

He missed another shot at the posts, just three minutes later, but his 58th-minute effort was on target and proved to be the last scoring act of a dour battle.

Young players David Pollock and Niall O’Connor both showed well as Ulster tried valiantly to mount a late comeback, with the latter’s good distribution keeping the home side on the move.

Yet they needed a decent chunk of territory in the final minutes to stand any chance of grabbing a match-levelling seven-pointer.

Summing up their night, a handling error brought Ulster’s final attack to an end as Trimble and Schifcofske threatened in injury-time. Game over and much to reflect on for two sides who finished in the league’s bottom five last season.