Bonus point may be vital for Ulster

Galsgow 25 Ulster 18

ULSTER SUFFERED their second defeat this season to Glasgow Warriors and in doing so had to settle for a losing bonus point to widen the gap over Connacht that would guarantee the vital Heineken Cup place for next season.

There are still several games left for Ulster to attain their goal and certainly their performance last night at Firhill suggests that they will achieve their objective.

Put simply Ulster were beaten by the boot of Scotland outside half Dan Parks who contributed 20 points from two penalty goals, four drop goals and a conversion and who kept Glasgow on the front foot with some magnificent kicking from hand.

Frustratingly Ulster outscored Glasgow by two tries to one, a deserved reward for their enterprising back play well orchestrated by outhalf Ian Humphreys.

Ulster were into their stride quickly, scoring after only three minutes with a try by scrumhalf Paul Marshall, the Ireland sevens player hacking the ball 60 metres downfield past a defence-shy Dan Parks before following up quickly to dot the ball down over the line.

Parks quickly atoned with a penalty goal after Tom Court had been caught offside at the ruck created by a defence-breaking run from Max Evans.

It was a brief setback for Ulster who came roaring back on the attack with a break by Ian Humphreys that ended with Darren Cave being bundled into touch at the corner flag.

A break-out from their own line by Glasgow set up a second penalty chance for Parks, but this time the outhalf was off target with his kick. Thereafter in the first half it was Ulster who had the greater share of territory to go into the interval break with a 5-3 lead.

Glasgow looked much more purposeful after half-time but despite an injection of pace into their backline attacks their points gain was restricted to a drop goal from Parks to give the Warriors the lead for the first time in the game.

A superb 60-metre touch finder from Marshall gave Ulster a crucial foothold in Glasgow territory and minutes later the visitors capitalised with a penalty goal from Humphreys.

Then after good work by Simon Danielli and Andrew Trimble, Glasgow were penalised at the breakdown, allowing Humphreys to add a second goal in quick succession.

Almost immediately Parks replied with his second penalty goal quickly followed by drop goal number two for the Scotland outside half to restore the lead for the Warriors. It seemed to give Glasgow the impetus they sought and it showed as Johnnie Beattie broke through to fragment the Ulster defence.

When the ball was recycled and switched to the left Scotland centre Graeme Morrison had room to build up pace and barge over for Glasgow’s first try, converted by Parks.

Ulster had a chance to eat into the Warriors’ lead only for Humphreys to pull his penalty attempt wide of the posts. But at the other end Parks showed his accuracy with his third drop goal to open up a ten points lead, increased to 13 when Parks added a fourth trademark speciality.

The visitors, using their bench intelligently, showed their resolve with a clever handling move involving Danielli and Trimble that ended with replacement Jamie Smith twisting out of a tackle before touching down in the corner, Humphreys adding the difficult conversion goal to give Ulster a deserved bonus point.

GLASGOW WARRIORS:B Stortoni; C Shaw, M Evans, G Morrison, D Van Ser Merwe; D Parks (R Jackson 73 repl by H O'Hare 77), M McMillan (C Cusiter 50); K Tkachuk (E Kalman 70), F Thomson (D Hall 50), M Low, T Barker (D Turner 50), A Kellock, K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie.

ULSTER:S Danielli; A Trimble, D Cave, I Whitten, N Spence (J Smith 73); I Humphreys, P Marshall(I Boss 64); T Court, A Kyriacou (N Brady 48), D Fitzpatrick (BJ Botha 48), E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, C Henry (D Tuohy 63), D Pollock, R Diack (T Anderson 35).

RefereeP Allen (Scotland).