Ulster back on sound footing

Ulster 21 Cardiff Blues 16

A win, is a win, is a win. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective as Ulster went back to basics in their most acute hour of need for some time and ground out a gritty opening Heineken European Cup win.

Needless to say, in their most acute hour of need for some time it was the immaculate boot of David Humphreys that steered them home.

The Ulster talisman landed five penalties out of five and added two drop goals from four attempts. Where would they have been without him these last few years?

Roared on by a 9,600 Ravenhill crowd who were almost as edgy as their team at times, Ulster thus extended their unbeaten home run in the competition to 10 games and into a fourth campaign with, ironically, their first home win of the season at the fifth attempt. For Cardiff, it was the same old story, losing here for the fourth time in four visits.

In many ways Ulster resorted to the tried and tested, whether out of design or in response to Joel Jutge's pedantic refereeing. Certainly, in his whistle-happy mood (the penalty count was 16-11 to Ulster), it made sense to work off their polished lineout, play for territory, confine the running game to forwards close in or Kevin Maggs up the middle, and await chances for Humphreys's boot.

Their restart receptions remained poor, but more to the point Cardiff's discipline was also pretty hopeless, rendering obsolete the all-round excellence of Martyn Williams and what appeared a marginally sharper cutting edge. It was a night for the toilers. Andy Ward's influence grew as his tackles got bigger, so, too, young Matt McCullough. Maggs did his thing in midfield, and Bryn Cunningham was as safe as houses at the back.

The apprehension had been palpable beforehand as a misfiring Ulster faced something of a point of no return on the penultimate weekend in October. All that was cast aside, though, as Stand Up For The Ulstermen reverberated around Ravenhill to accompanying fireworks.

An early three-pointer helped, Humphreys landing a drop goal to become the sixth player to reach 400 European Cup points. Lee Thomas soon levelled amid a concerto of penalties by the French official that prevented any flow.

Cardiff employed Rhys Williams at outhalf with offensive ball, and at outside centre in defence, as they initially probed the outhalf channel. But the ball saw plenty of air, as Cardiff played for territory and Humphreys sought to test Craig Morgan.

He passed the tests, and so Ulster went through a couple of phases for the first time after almost 25 minutes, whereupon there were a couple of key interventions by Cardiff frontrowers. Prop Martin Jones was late in charging into Humphreys after a chip ahead - the outhalf landing a 45-metre penalty - and then from the restart hooker Gareth Williams was early in taking out Ward and was duly binned.

Ulster profited with a further brace of well-struck penalties in Jones's absence and grew modestly in ambition. However, an overwhelming sense of déjà vu quickly enveloped the ground as once again Ulster frittered away a hard-won lead straight from the resumption. Campbell Feather failed to control a return kick off the restart, Cardiff launched Craig Quinnell at the outhalf channel off the lineout, and from the recycle, Rhys Williams feigned to pass, straightened between two tackles and offloaded inside for the supporting Tom Shanklin to score under the posts. A good score, but softly conceded.

Thomas augmented the conversion with a penalty when Neil Best high tackled Nick Walne to nudge Cardiff ahead, but Ulster made better use of their bench, and Humphreys regained the lead with an acutely angled penalty. And so the end game came down to a nervous battle for territory and tit-for-tat three-pointers between two sides lacking in confidence.

Quinnell made hard yards for Thomas to nail another drop goal, Maggs and Rowen Frost doing likewise for Humphreys to respond in kind before adding another penalty.

Cardiff came downfield, but Ulster scented victory, pushed up quickly, tackled hard and knocked them back before Humphreys nearly cleared the stand in closing out the game.

How they needed this one!

SCORING SEQUENCE- 5 mins: Humphreys drop goal 3-0; 14: Thomas pen 3-3; 27: Humphreys pen 6-3; 32: Humphreys pen 9-3; 35: Humphreys pen 12-3 (half-time 12-3); 42: Shanklin try, Thomas con 12-10; 47: Thomas pen 12-13; 53: Humphreys pen 15-13; 64: Thomas drop goal 15-16; 67: Humphreys drop goal 18-16; 75: Humphreys pen 21-16.

ULSTER:B Cunningham; T Bowe, K Maggs, P Steinmetz, T Howe; D Humphreys, K Campbell; R McCormack, N Brady, S Best, G Longwell, M McCullough, A Ward (capt), C Feather, N Best. Replacements: N Doak for Campbell (52 mins), R Frost for Longwell (57 mins), R Moore for McCormack (65 mins), Roger Wilson for Feather (71 mins).

CARDIFF BLUES:C Morgan; N Walne, R Williams, T Shanklin, J Vaughton; L Thomas, D Dewdney; G Jenkins, G Williams, M Jones, C Quinnell, D Jones, N Thomas, K Schubert, M Williams (capt). Replacements: R Sidoli for Quinnell (66 mins).

Referee:Joel Jutge (France)