Misfiring Ulster Lose First Leg Of Crunch Scottish Clashes

Ulster’s GUINNESS PRO14 play-off aspirations were dealt a blow at Scotstoun Stadium where a rampant Glasgow Warriors ran in four tries to a lone Rob Herring score on a night when very little went right for Dan McFarland’s side.

A misfiring lineout and high penalty count – particularly at scrum time – sealed Ulster’s fate, combined with two unfortunate near misses from Luke Marshall and Robert Lyttle, who both lost control of the ball when attempting to score under pressure from former Ulster winger Tommy Seymour who had an excellent game.

Ulster remain second in Conference B on 54 points for the time being, but with Benetton now just two points behind following their hard-earned draw at Leinster and Edinburgh, who defeated the Scarlets 20-12, only one more point back in fourth. Next Friday’s meeting of Edinburgh and Ulster at BT Murrayfield now takes on even more importance.

Speaking in the aftermath of the Glasgow game, Ulster head coach McFarland said: “Glasgow are a very strong side and they’re going to be in that Championship mix at the end of the season. That’s somewhere we aspire to be. At this stage we’re going to have to improve.”

“We started well, played some good rugby and allowed them to kick a long way up the field and score a few tries off the back of that. We needed to hold on to the ball and we didn’t. We need to finish off and be more accurate in attack. We weren’t at the level we were last week, and that’s understandable to an extent. But we’re now in a position where we have to be or we’re not going to qualify.”

Fit-again centre Marshall made his first start of the season after a try-scoring cameo role in last Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final, while four more changes to the Ulster line-up brought in winger Lyttle, Herring at hooker, Alan O’Connor at lock and Sean Reidy at flanker for his 101st cap.

An early steal by Marcell Coetzee sent Marshall and Herring bursting into the Glasgow 22 in a dangerous move and, although Ulster initially lost the ball with a knock-on, the pace of their backs proved problematic for Glasgow once back in possession, and a high tackle on the quicksilver Michael Lowry won them a well-placed penalty.

The lineout executed to plan, Herring peeled off the maul quickly and barged his way through three tackles to ground his seventh try of the season – making him the province’s top try scorer so far. John Cooney converted the seventh-minute score, but Warriors soon found themselves in a similar position and took full advantage.

With Eric O’Sullivan pulled up for holding on too long in the tackle after chasing down a long clearance from Scotland star Stuart Hogg, Herring’s opposite number Fraser Brown eventually rumbled over by means of a more conventional rolling maul in the 13th minute. Adam Hastings levelled with the conversion and then added a try, showing impressive strength to resist Cooney’s tackle and stretch over.

After some fisticuffs between compatriots Coetzee and Oli Kebble went punished only by a stern talking-to from referee and fellow South African Stuart Berry, Glasgow number 10 Hastings used the stiff breeze behind him to knock over a long range penalty and make it 15-7 just before the half hour mark.

With Angus Kernohan replacing Lowry, the recipient of a knock early on that he was unable to shake off, Ulster were forced to redeploy Jacob Stockdale to full-back, and despite enjoying good possession during the latter stages, including two promising mauls, it was Glasgow who closed out the first half in the ascendancy. Seymour finished off their third try after 17 patient phases.

Trailing 20-7 and turning around with the wind at Ulster’s backs, Stuart McCloskey put too much weight behind his first clearance kick which shot out of bounds and gifted Warriors the scrum, from which rapid recycling got tighthead prop Zander Fagerson over on 43 minutes for the bonus point try.

The Ulster response was spirited, Stockdale supplying Marshall four minutes later and the centre forcing his way to the line, only for Seymour’s last-ditch challenge to dislodge the ball as he went to ground in an incident painfully reminiscent of Stockdale’s own narrow miss last Saturday night against Leinster.

A huge collision involving Coetzee, McCloskey and Hastings ended with the Ulster centre coming off worst with a bang to the head that saw him replaced by the retiring Darren Cave, before Hastings stretched the lead to 30-7 points on the hour courtesy of a penalty.

Ten minutes from time, a fantastic effort from Lyttle once again ended in sheer frustration, the winger’s interception and run from halfway proving in vain as a TMO review showed that Seymour had done just enough to prevent the try, his tackle just forcing the knock-on microseconds before the ball crossed the try-line.

It was to prove Ulster’s last real chance of any consolation until the final minute when a five-metre lineout petered out into nothing with another steal by the Conference A leaders – the last of half-a-dozen lineouts frustratingly surrendered by the province.