Dogged Ulster get down and dirty

Pool Six, Ulster 14 Gloucester 12: If they had the means the Heineken European Cup's sponsors would surely bottle nights like this. Despite leading 12-3 at the break, Gloucester went the way of Wasps, Northampton and Leicester amongst others before them, as Ulster got down and dirtier than they ever have before to extend their four-year unbeaten Ravenhill record.

All night it ebbed and flowed in tandem with the constant downpour and in a curious kind of way, for all the wildness and errors, it was thrillingly compulsive viewing. Gloucester had a sizeable buffer at the break, not least because Nigel Whitehouse wrongly disallowed a legitimate try by Tommy Bowe from a Humphreys crosskick on half-time. His biggest decision of the night, and with no input from his touchjudges, Whitehouse got it wrong.

Ironically, the same tactic yielded the breakthrough try eight minutes after the restart and thereafter Ulster upped the pressure. Gloucester cracked, especially Marcel Garvey, sufficiently for Humphreys, as ever, to steer Ulster home with some nerveless pressure kicking.

Bowe was also a big, if occasional weapon on the night, while after an industrious hour by Campbell Feather, his replacement Andy Ward had a big impact in the final 20. But it's fair to say that they were all heroes, not least because they were virtually indistinguishable by the end of each half, despite a change of strip at half-time.

Alas, Stade Francais' bonus point means Ulster can't win the group, and even a five-point haul in Cardiff won't get them through. Gloucester must now take a five-point haul over Stade, deny them a bonus point, and outscore them by three tries to win the pool.

From the outset Humphreys' ambitious attempt from 50 metres drifted wide but was typical of their approach at home and set the tone, but a high one-handed tackle by Roger Wilson on Adam Balding enabled Henry Paul to deservedly put the visitors in front.

When Humphreys sliced through off his own quick tap a try looked on when Bowe came steaming up in expectation of a kick through, but the outhalf hesitated and the moment was lost.

The errors worsened in some Keystone Cops-type exchanges and there were a couple of mad scrambles over the Gloucester line but they survived both scares. Ulster twice coughed up attacking lineouts, Andy Gomarsall gathering a Rory Best overthrow at the tail to find touch 80 metres downfield only for Ulster to regain much of the territory when James Bailey slipped, dropped the ball, slipped again and was engulfed. Not a night for wingers.

Whereupon the Ulster scrum was wheeled. Gloucester also had a much more solid platform off their lineouts, and by contrast they profited from some footrushing chases of their own. First Kieran Campbell tugged back Terry Fanalua and Paul landed the penalty, then Fanalua kicked on a neat little chip by Paul to force the covering Bowe into conceding a five-metre scrum.

Ulster were penalised at the put-in and Paul made it 9-0.

Bryn Cunningham had knocked a couple of high balls before bravely gathering his own daring chip on the counter-attack and when Campbell Feather took it on, Gloucester were penalised for handling in the ruck. Humphreys kicked the 45-metre penalty to open their account but Cunningham's ensuing spillage led to Simon Amor scuffing a low drop goal over the bar.

However, the match would have taken on a completely different complexion if Mr Whitehouse hadn't erroneously deemed that Bowe was in front of Humphreys when chasing the latter's crosskick, brilliantly winning the ball in the air before touching down. Ulster trailed 12-3.

Amazingly though, despite being forewarned, Gloucester were not forearmed.

Eight minutes after the turnaround, Humphreys went crossfield again, and Bowe leapt, caught and took Bailey's tackle to feed Cunningham at pace for an unconverted try wide out.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and a huge roar greeted Ward's arrival as well as a couple of trademark, driving tackles. Meantime, Garvey twice made a complete hash of devilish crosskicks by Humphreys, first compounding his error by not releasing for Humphreys to curl in a sweetly struck penalty, and when Campbell and Humphreys probed in turn off the second, Gloucester were possibly harshly penalised at the breakdown for Humphreys to land the pressure kick.

Not that there wasn't some inevitable nail-biting before the end. The second of two remorseless pick and go drives by Gloucester took Amor into ideal drop goal range, straight out on the 22, but this time his scuffed effort screwed wide. With Ward the first brick in an impenetrable defensive wall around the fringes, Ulster saw out the end game in the opposition 22.

Scoring sequence: 14 mins Paul pen 0-3; 30 mins Paul pen 0-6; 34 mins Paul pen 0-9; 40 mins Humphreys pen 3-9; 40 (+2 mins) Amor drop goal 3-12; (half-time 3-12); 48 mins Cunningham try 8-12; 69 mins Humphreys pen 11-12; 73 mins Humphreys pen 14-12.

ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, K Maggs, P Steinmetz, T Howe; D Humphreys, K Campbell; S Best, R Best, R Moore, G Longwell, M McCullough, C Feather (Capt), R Wilson, N Best. Replacements: A Ward for Feather (61 mins), R Frost for Longwell (66 mins), P Shields for R Best (67 mins), P Wallace for Howe (70 mins), R McCormack for S Best (83 mins). Not used: N Doak, A Larkin.

GLOUCESTER: J Goodridge; M Garvey, T Fanolua, H Paul, J Bailey; S Amor, A Gomarsall; C Bezuidenhout, J Parkes, P Vickery, A Eustace, A Brown, J Boer (capt), A Balding, A Hazell. Replacements: P Buxton for Hazell (half-time), J Forrester for Bailey (74 mins). Not used: R Elloway, T Sigley, A Page, N Mauger.

Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales).