Ulster open door to let Cardiff waltz through for win

Cardiff Blues 23 Ulster 13

Ulster director of rugby Les Kiss has called on his men to complete the Italian job after their capitulation at the Cardiff Blues.

Craig Gilroy’s try and eight points from Paddy Jackson’s boot had them 13-9 ahead in the final 10 minutes.

But a late salvo from Rhys Patchell and Aled Summerhill saw the Blues secure a 23-13 triumph and dent Ulster's title challenge ahead of the clash with Zebre next week.

Kiss said: “It’s disappointing, we had a good chat at the end of the game and we know we are not in the best form at the moment.

“We worked through some ugly patches, fought hard and positioned ourselves to do the job. But we weren’t able to do it through some poor defence at times.

“We have to stay real, we’re still up the top of the ladder, we have to arrest this, because we know it’s an important game for us to make sure we stay in the hunt next week.”

John Lacey’s whistle ruled the opening 15 minutes, before Jackson finally broke the deadlock on half-an-hour.

Nick Williams and Darren Cave combined to surge down the right flank, forcing the hosts to offend at a ruck.

Jackson chipped the penalty through the uprights from right in front of the posts for a 3-0 lead before landing a second five minutes later.

Patchell landed a long-range penalty after Ulster had gone offside to cut the gap to 6-3 at half-time.

Patchell levelled the scores from long range on 42 minutes after Ulster went offside. But the visitors retook the lead in emphatic fashion three minutes later through Gilroy.

Centre Sam Arnold led the Ulster charge after a quick-tap penalty, and burst through Blues scrumhalf Tomos Williams. He found Ireland wing Gilroy on the overlap, who waltzed home for the converted score.

Stuart Olding single-handily kept his side in-front when he made a try saving tackle on Dan Fish after Patchell had broken clear.

The Blues kicker converted a close-range penalty to pull the Blues back within four points before Ulster’s defence finally gave way. Samoa international Rey Lee-Lo burst through and found Patchell to put the Blues in front.

And the result was put beyond doubt when Summerhill touched down at the corner.

CARDIFF BLUES: D Fish; B Scully, A Summerhill, R Lee-Lo, T James; R Patchell, T Williams; B Thyer, M Rees, S Ma'afu; J Hoeata, J Down; J Turnbull, E Jenkins, M Vosawai.

Replacements: T Filise for Ma'afu (40 mins), J Evans for Fish (60 mins), J Navidi for Vosawai (62 mins), L Jones for Williams (66 mins), K Dacey for Rees (68 mins), T Davies for Thyer (75 mins)

ULSTER: S Olding; C Gilroy, L Marshall, S Arnold, J Stockdale; P Jackson (capt), R Pienaar; C Black, J Andrews, B Ross; P Browne, F van der Merwe ; R Diack, C Henry , N Williams.

Replacements: D Cave for L Marshall (6 mins), R Luton for B Ross (40 mins), K McCall for Black (49 mins), S Reidy for Henry (56 mins), R Wilson for Browne (66 mins), R Scholes for Arnold (71 mins).

Referee: John Lacey (IRFU).