Madigan Boots Ulster To Dramatic Murrayfield Victory

Ulster finished their Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup campaign with a dramatic 34-31 bonus point win over Edinburgh, courtesy of a last-gasp penalty by Ian Madigan.

The Scots lost their grip on an early 12-0 lead at BT Murrayfield – with Hamish Watson and WP Nel both sin-binned – as Ulster stormed back with five tries and 31 unanswered points.

The best of them was a terrific surging score rounded off by player-of-the-match Stuart McCloskey, while James Hume, captain Iain Henderson, Adam McBurney and Rob Lyttle also crossed.

Yellow cards for Michael Lowry and Nick Timoney invited an Edinburgh fightback, though, and the Ulstermen needed a surefooted 81st-minute kick from Madigan to snatch victory.

Giving his assessment afterwards, head coach Dan McFarland said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the lads. I’m not the biggest fan of the Rainbow Cup, but it couldn’t be helped this season.

“It would have been great if we had played out the PRO14 (as normal with play-offs), but they wanted the South African teams in in some way and this is the only way it has been possible.

“Our focus on our semi-final (against Leicester in the Challenge Cup) probably caused us to stall on the start line (of the Rainbow Cup).

“And then we missed the chance to beat the Scarlets at home (due to Covid issues), but a lot of guys got a chance and put their hands up so that was a bonus from it.”

After struggling initially to find a way through the solid Ulster defence, Edinburgh fired the ball left out wide to Duhan van der Merwe, who muscled his way over in the third minute for the opening five points.

The home side quickly struck again through James Johnstone running a strong line, sending Blair Kinghorn through to score and add the conversion himself.

Ulster replied in the 12th minute, out-half Madigan setting in motion an excellent attacking phase. David Shanahan ran a great support line to bring Ulster close to the line, offloading to Alan O’Connor.

The ball was then moved out to young centre Hume who showed real strength to power over. Madigan was on target with the extras to cut the gap to 12-7.

Momentum had swung Ulster’s way, and they got themselves into another promising position. McCloskey’s attempted offload was thwarted illegally by Watson, who saw yellow for his troubles.

Ulster capitalised through Watson’s Lions colleague, Henderson, barging over the whitewash. Madigan’s conversion edged the province in front for the first time.

Ulster’s third converted try of the half showed some lovely running and interplay. Hume made the initial break, weaving past halfway, and Shanahan was once again on hand to offload to McCloskey, who charged home by the posts.

The bonus point was sewn up in the 38th minute, following a key moment in which Ulster won a scrum against the head. They then got another penalty and kicked for touch.

The ensuing lineout and maul had an air of inevitability when McBurney tucked the ball under his arm at the back, and he rumbled over to score. Madigan’s kick rattled off the post for the try to go unconverted.

Armed with a 26-12 interval advantage, Ulster’s backs were again involved for the fifth try, going into the wide channel for Lyttle to touch down in the right corner in the 47th minute.

Billy Burns, who had come on to replace Madigan and make his 50th appearance for the province, was unable to get the tricky conversion.

Entering the final quarter, Edinburgh capitalised on the yellow for Lowry, and a couple of minutes later, Timoney was also binned. Replacement prop Pierre Schoeman bludgeoned his way over for Kinghorn to convert.

Richard Cockerill’s charges were now in the ascendency and had numbers to send Cammy Hutchinson over for another quick-fire try. Kinghorn fired over the conversion for a 31-24 scoreline.

Edinburgh struck again barely three minutes later, with Eroni Sau running clear down the right wing. Crucially, Kinghorn was not able to convert, meaning the sides were locked level.

Ulster made use of the captain’s challenge to check for a high challenge on Lowry in the build-up, but referee Ben Whitehouse deemed there was no foul play, leaving the try to stand.

Nonetheless, the visitors fought back and with the clock in the red, they were award a penalty. Madigan, who had come back on for Burns, repeated his PRO14 semi-final heroics from last September at the same venue with the game-defining kick.