Ulster Stay On Course With Second Half Bonus Point Haul

Ulster have won three BKT United Rugby Championship matches in a row for the first time in a year, following a strong second half performance to dispatch the Scarlets on a 31-20 scoreline.

Richie Murphy’s men moved up to sixth in the table, ahead of two closing interprovincial derbies, with player-of-the-match Stuart McCloskey scoring the first of their five tries after half-time.

Making his first start in the back row, Cormac Izuchukwu was held up three times as Ulster, who trailed 6-3 at the break, struggled initially to take advantage of two yellow cards for the Scarlets.

Taine Plumtree and Gareth Davies were both sin-binned approaching the interval, but the third-from-bottom Scarlets still led thanks to two Sam Costelow penalties. John Cooney replied in the 27th minute.

Ulster’s execution was much improved on the restart, with smartly-taken tries from McCloskey (42 minutes) and Nick Timoney (47) giving them the scoreboard pressure that they craved at 17-6 in front.

David McCann and Jacob Stockdale also crossed the whitewash, with the latter sealing a 63rd-minute bonus point, as Ulster registered their first away victory in the URC since New Year’s Day. On the debit side were the scores leaked to Carwyn Tuipulotu and Tomi Lewis.

Michael Lowry led Ulster out at a sun-splashed Parc y Scarlets on the occasion of his 100th cap, but he knocked on a pass from Cooney, leading to an opening 10th-minute penalty from Costelow.

Applying pressure at the breakdown, the Scarlets managed to gain ground through kicks from Costelow and Davies. The experienced Wales scrum half went quickly from a mark inside his own 22, exploiting the space in front of him before Lowry swept up past the Ulster try-line.

In response, Ulster misfired with the boot as Billy Burns overcooked a penalty kick to touch, and winger Ethan McIlroy was unfortunate that a delivery downfield ended up trickling over the end line.

The hosts doubled their lead to 6-0 in the 26th minute, with Costelow punishing the otherwise-impressive Izuchuwku for being caught offside. The Ulster flanker won the breakdown battle, soon after, in the lead up to Cooney’s opening points.

Stockdale’s slap down from Cooney’s restart sparked much better play out of Ulster. Izuchukwu and McIlroy were both prominent, but despite some indiscipline, the Scarlets defenced a maul well and then held up Izuchukwu following a tap penalty.

Plumtree, who had been one of the Scarlets’ most effective players, saw yellow for playing the ball off his feet, allowing Ulster to press again for an elusive first try. Izuchukwu charged down the short side, off a lineout move, but the red shirts got under the ball.

Stockdale injected pace into an attack, breaking down the right wing, and a follow-up burst from Eric O’Sullivan drew a foot trip from Davies who was duly sent to the bin. Crucially though, Ulster emerged scoreless as Tuipulotu thwarted Izuchukwu from close range.

Barely two minutes into the second half, McCloskey made the province’s two-man advantage count. The Ireland centre straightened up an attack against the drifting defence, cutting in past Kemsley Mathias and evading four defenders in total, on a speedy 30-metre run-in.

With Cooney’s conversion from straight in front making it 10-6, Ulster won a scrum penalty and then Lowry was almost away from an interception. He did really well to dink a kick through under pressure from Ioan Nicholas, forcing winger Lewis to concede a scrum.

From the resulting five-metre set-piece, Timoney surged off the base, getting through Costelow’s low tackle attempt and crashing over past two more defenders. Cooney added the extras before Davies returned to the pitch.

The Ulster forwards wore down the Scarlets defence for try number three, which saw the increasingly-influential McCann burrow in under the posts with support from Kieran Treadwell. Cooney’s right boot extended the lead to 18 points.

Nonetheless, the Scarlets started the final quarter by reducing the arrears to 24-13. They carried with greater intent, going the direct route before powerful number 8 Tuipulotu muscled over to the right of the posts for Costelow to convert.

Ulster put together a swift reply, though, as Stockdale, having brought his side back into scoring range with some very good work at the restart and the breakdown, kept his width to score his eighth try of the URC campaign via a Burns pass.

There was life left in the Scarlets as they cancelled out those seven points in the 66th minute, as replacement Ioan Lloyd’s sidestepping run carved open the Ulster defence, and he fed Lewis on his outside to close the gap again, to 31-20.

As the Scarlets came hunting for more, McCann got up well to pressurise their five-metre lineout, and the ball went loose out the back for McIlroy to gobble it up.

The closing stages saw Ulster replacements Tom Stewart and Nathan Doak come on to good effect. Stewart was accurate with his lineout throwing and forced a penalty at the breakdown, but Doak, who kicked well out of hand, slid his 77th-minute effort wide.