URC: Ulster 21 Cardiff 14
Ulster completed their pre-Six Nations block of games by digging deep to see off a determined Cardiff who pushed them harder than had been anticipated.
The northern province had led 14-0 at half-time but only scored seven more points in what remained of a scrappy enough contest from which they failed to bag a bonus-point victory.
Ulster opened brightly and after coming close to scoring did so after 11 minutes, Scott Wilson getting on the end of a sweeping move involving Matthew Dalton, David McCann and Ben Carson.
Wilson lunged through some non-existent tackling at the posts and Jack Murphy converted which he duly did again seven minutes later after Angus Bell had dotted down near the posts for his first Ulster try following a solo run when he sidestepped three tacklers with notable ease.
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Cardiff did come close to some points and won a penalty which they opted to tap and go which did not work out well as the visitors were held up over the line by a combination of Dalton, Marcus Rea and Wilson.
From there, the half was uneventful and ended with Ulster leading 14-0 though that changed on 54 minutes when Johan Mulder wriggled through from close range, Callum Sheedy’s conversion cutting the home team’s lead in half.
From a scrum near the Cardiff line, on 66 minutes Ulster got the ball, launched Dalton and after his carry, Charlie Irvine picked up to score his first try for the province, duly converted by Murphy.
But a minute later Cardiff were back in the contest, when Steffan Emanuel was put away, Kok unable to halt him. Sheedy converted and Ulster’s lead was cut to 21-14.
Even though Ulster pushed hard at the conclusion of the game for a bonus point score, they could not do enough despite two tapped penalties on the Cardiff line right at the death.
Ulster: E McIlroy, W Kok, J Hume, B Carson, Z Ward, J Murphy, C McKee; A Bell, R Herring, S Wilson, I Henderson (capt), C Irvine, M Dalton, M Rea, D McCann. Replacements: S Crean for Bell, H Sheridan for Henderson (both 54 mins), D Shanahan for McKee (61 mins), L McLoughlin for Rea (62 mins), J Flannery for McIlroy (69 mins), B O’Connor for Wilson (75 mins).
Cardiff: C Winnett, I Lloyd, H Millard, S Emanuel, T Bowen, C Sheedy, J Mulder, R Barratt, E Lloyd, J Sebastian, J McNally (capt), G Nott, A Lawrence, D Thomas, T Basham. Replacements: D Hughes for Lloyd, D Southworth for Barratt, A Davies for Mulder (all 54 mins), L Halfpenny for Winnett (62 mins), J Cowell for Sebastian (69 mins), L de la Rua for D Thomas (76 mins), D Thomas for de la Rua (77 mins).
Referee: Holly Davidson (SRU).
