Ulster Squeeze Past Scarlets In Eight-Try Thriller

Ulster fans had a hard-fought win to celebrate on their return to Kingspan Stadium, as Dan McFarland’s unbeaten team edged out the Scarlets 26-24.

The Welshmen matched Ulster’s four-try haul, yet they left 10 points behind them from the tee as the hosts made it seven straight Guinness PRO14 wins – five by way of a bonus point.

A strong finish to the first half produced tries from Stewart Moore, with a tremendous intercept effort, and player-of-the-match Sean Reidy as the province built a 19-7 interval lead.

Ulster had to show plenty of resilience as they lost Kieran Treadwell and Matt Faddes to yellow cards in each half, while centre Luke Marshall went off with an early knee injury.

Unconverted tries from Ryan Conbeer and Steff Evans closed the gap to 19-17, but lock Treadwell’s 64th-minute score got Ulster over the finish line, despite Phil Price’s late reply.

The two sides were greeted by 1,000 spectators and, eager to add to his four-try salvo last time out, Ulster’s Marcell Coetzee was just held up over the line inside the opening minutes.

Nonetheless, with six minutes gone, the hosts did score the first try of the game in fine style. John Cooney’s no-look pass and another well-timed delivery from Faddes put Rob Lyttle dancing inside the final defender.

The Scarlets grew into the game and earned two quick-fire penalties but Dan Jones missed both, sending the first one wide and hitting the outside of the near post with the second.

The visitors continued to build momentum with ball in hand, though, and were rewarded after Treadwell was binned for a high tackle on Javan Sebastian.

Centre Paul Asquith crossed from close range at the end of a good passing phase. Angus O’Brien converted to nudge the Scarlets ahead at 7-5.

The men in red were on top now, particularly in the scrum, but were stung by an opportunist touchdownf from Moore. He picked off Dane Blacker’s pass, outside the Ulster 22, and darted downfield, evading the chasing Conbeer to wrestle back the lead.

John Cooney converted and with the momentum swinging behind Ulster, they tagged on another seven-pointer when openside Reidy crashed over beside the posts – aided by a big shove from Eric O’Sullivan.

The Scarlets took just 73 seconds to issue a perfect response after the break, Steffan Hughes delivering a pinpoint accurate kick to find Conbeer who dotted down in the right corner.

Faddes’ high tackle left Ulster down to 14 men, but Cooney came up trumps when he held the ball up on the line to deny the Welsh outfit their third try.

That score did come in the 54th minute when fast-breaking replacement Tyler Morgan released Evans to score with a slickly-timed pass, but another conversion went abegging from out wide.

All their hard work went by the wayside, early in the final quarter, when Blacker’s inadvertent knock-on presented Ulster with the opportunity to hunt down their bonus point try.

The home forwards went the direct route and were rewarded, Treadwell driving in low and getting his legs pumping to ground the ball despite the presence of four defenders. Replacement Bill Johnston converted.

The Scarlets set up a grandstand finish when Price piled over off the back of a maul. O’Brien converted to make it a two-point game again, but Ulster stood firm at the end of a cracking eight-try contest.