Ulster leapfrogged provincial rivals Connacht back to the top of the GUINNESS PRO12 courtesy of a hard-won victory over Glasgow Warriors at Kingspan Stadium, with their newest centurion Callum Black celebrating his 100th cap with the decisive try.
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Eight points from the boots of Ruan Pienaar and Paddy Jackson topped up the score to edge out a valiant Warriors side, whose late try snatched a losing bonus point which could still prove crucial in the run-in to the play-offs, with 10 matches still to play for the incumbent champions.
Two of Ulster’s starting line-up celebrated milestones tonight with prop Callum Black pulling on the jersey for the 100th time, and out-half Sam Windsor getting his very first chance in the number 10 shirt, with Jackson on the bench and Ian Humphreys unavailable due to a concussion sustained last week against the Dragons.
Elsewhere, the versatile Stuart Olding shifted from centre to full-back, with Craig Gilroy and Jacob Stockdale on the wings, Stuart McCloskey reunited with Darren Cave in midfield, and Pienaar the most reassuring of half-back partners for Windsor on his debut.
Rob Herring led the side from hooker alongside Black and Ricky Lutton in the front row, while Franco van der Merwe returned to the second row to resume his partnership with Alan O’Connor. A muscular Ulster back row featured Robbie Diack and the in-form Sean Reidy either side of number 8 Nick Williams.
Ulster’s start could not have gone much worse. An early penalty miss from Pienaar was swiftly followed by an overlap from Glasgow on the right wing, allowing Lee Jones in for a simple try on the 10-minute mark which went unconverted.
Herring led the home riposte with a barnstorming run into the Scottish 22 moments from the restart and, although Ulster knocked on for the fourth time in the first quarter as McCloskey took over, they soon had points on the board as Pienaar atoned for his earlier miss on 22 minutes.
An electric Olding got things moving straight from the restart, weaving through five or six Warriors from deep before setting up Gilroy on the right. The winger beat three men of his own, then intelligently kicked goalwards for Pienaar who was marginally outstripped in the race to the line.
The scrum half was soon making way for Paul Marshall after a nasty clash of heads in the tackle, and the diminutive replacement wasted no time in making his presence felt.
Marshall darted towards the corner to set up a move which culminated in him touching down as a loose ball popped out of the back of a maul. Referee Marius Mitrea ruled out the try after consulting with TMO Olly Hodges on both the ball’s exit from the melee and Marshall’s grounding.
With the hosts trailing 5-3 at the interval, Herring joined Pienaar on the sidelines early in the second half after picking up a knock. However, with Jackson now calling the shots from out-half, another exhilarating run from man-of-the-match Gilroy ripped the Glasgow defence asunder and set up camp on the Glasgow line, from where Black rumbled over on 54 minutes.
Jackson nailed the conversion and as Ulster began to pepper the Glasgow defence with raids – in particular from Olding and Stockdale – the killer blow looked imminent, although Jackson prudently opted to go for goal with a 66th minute penalty which left the visitors eight points adrift.
With Warriors skipper Ryan Wilson soon sin-binned for taking out van der Merwe as he jumped for a lineout ball, any chance of a late reversal evaporated. But the visitors were able to close out the match with a Taqele Naiyaravoro try to secure themselves the losing bonus point.
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