Ulster 21 Edinburgh 13:Ulster will travel to Bath next weekend with their faint hopes of emerging from Pool Four still intact after a hard-fought win over Edinburgh. Ulster coped best with the howling gale at Ravenhill to keep their season alive.
Issac Boss and Darren Cave scored tries and Ian Humphreys kicked eight points, with Niall O’Connor adding a penalty.
Edinburgh replied with a Jim Thompson try and eight points from the boot of Chris Paterson.
Pool leaders Stade Francais host already-eliminated Bath tomorrow and remain favourites to progress, while Ulster must beat Bath in their final group contest next week and hope for the French side to slip up against Edinburgh.
Ulster were unable to make any inroads early on, even when Edinburgh’s Belfast-born prop David Young was sin-binned for seemingly pulling down a maul. In fact, it was Edinburgh who took the lead soon after Young returned when Paterson nailed a penalty after Ulster strayed offside.
Ulster responded, sparked by a Boss break.
The Ireland scrumhalf took a tap and run penalty to himself in Ulster’s territory and burst upfield.
Stephen Ferris cleaned out the ruck just as Boss was beginning to look isolated and Tuohy charged upfield releasing Cave who fixed the Edinburgh defence, straightened and got over the line.
Humphreys, into the teeth of the gale, failed to add the conversion and Ulster surrendered the advantage immediately when Tuohy dropped the restart.
Paterson’s second penalty seemed scant reward for having the conditions at their backs as the sides trooped off at the break with the visitors holding a one point lead after ending the half camped on Ulster’s line.
Ulster’s cause seemed further boosted when, with the conditions now at his back, Humphreys slotted an early penalty to give his side a two point lead at 8-6.
But Edinburgh, with Roddy Grant leading the charge, crept their way back under Ulster’s posts only for some last-ditch defending from Boss to help relieve the pressure.
Indeed it was a long kick out from Boss in his own 22 that led to Ulster’s second try.
Andrew Trimble’s tackle on Nick De Luca led to a series of scrums the last of which saw Trimble take the ball on for Boss to collect, dummy the Edinburgh cover and dash in under the posts. Humphreys converted.
Five minutes after Boss’s score, Ferris found himself in the bin for persistent infringing.
Unlike Ulster in the first half, the visitors took immediate advantage of the situation and moved the ball at pace for Thompson to step inside for a score. Paterson converted to bring Rob Moffat’s side within two points.
The next score was critical and it came courtesy of Trimble whose carry into contact saw Scott Newlands penalised.
Humphreys did the honours with the three pointer just as Ferris rejoined the action. All that remained was O’Connor’s last minute penalty as Ulster’s European hopes remained alive.
Ulster:Smith, Trimble, Cave, Wallace, Danielli, Humphreys, Boss, Court, Brady, Botha, Tuohy, O'Donoghue, Ferris, Pollock, Henry. Replacements:O'Connor for Humphreys (72), Young for Court (62), Kyriacou for Brady (62), D. Fitzpatrick for Botha (75), Caldwell for Tuohy (72).
Tries:Cave, Boss. Cons:Humphreys. Pens:Humphreys 2, O'Connor.
Sin Bin:Ferris (59).
Edinburgh:Paterson, Thompson, Cairns, Houston, Visser, Godman, Laidlaw, Jacobsen, Ford, Young, MacLeod, J. Hamilton, Newlands, MacDonald, R. Grant. Replacements:De Luca for Cairns (50), Robertson for Visser (65), Samson for Laidlaw (70), Kelly for Ford (71), C. Hamilton for MacLeod (69).
Tries:Thompson. Cons:Paterson. Pens:Paterson 2.
Sin Bin:Young (7).
Att:10,000
Ref:Christophe Berdos (France).