HEINEKEN CUP POOL FOUR Ulster 21 Edinburgh 13:ULSTER NEEDED this result to maintain any hopes of making Europe's last eight and they achieved what was needed on an almost traditional Ravenhill night of howling wind and driving rain.
There was so much to admire in Ulster’s gutsy performance, even if they are still unlikely to overhaul Stade Francais as pool toppers, the win being based on a combination of aggressive defending and some hugely physical effort in taking the ball forward with Andrew Trimble, Chris Henry, Issac Boss and Dan Tuohy putting in a tremendous amount of work with the ball in hand.
Bearing in mind Ulster have failed to win away in Europe since Treviso in 2001, it still seems more likely that they can now realistically aim for qualification for the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals as runners-up in Pool Four, Niall O’Connor’s last gasp penalty denying Edinburgh what could have been a vital losing bonus.
Ulster faced the gale and started accordingly playing a series of pick and drives when they had the ball and keeping the ball at the front of the lineout. There was much to admire in their opening 20 minutes.
They were, however, unable to make any inroads when Edinburgh’s Belfast-born prop David Young was binned for seemingly pulling down a maul and not long after Young returned Chris Paterson nailed a penalty to open the scoring after Ulster strayed offside.
Ulster needed to respond and did with Tuohy’s marvellously athletic tackle on Tim Visser – which saved a certain looking try after Godman had cross-kicked for the winger to round Darren Cave – seemed to fuel the home side’s self-belief.
The spark was then provided by Issac Boss who took a tap and run penalty to himself in Ulster’s territory and burst upfield. 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 to Cave’s 26th minute score and then, typically, Ulster surrendered the advantage immediately when Tuohy dropped the restart.
Paterson’s second penalty, on 35 minutes, seemed scant reward for having the conditions at their backs as the visitors trooped off at the break with a one point lead.
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. But Edinburgh, with Roddy Grant leading the charge crept their way back under Ulster’s posts only for some last-ditch defending from Boss helping relieve the pressure.
Indeed it was a long kick out from Boss in his own 22 that led to Ulster’s second try. Trimble’s sack 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. The conversion was a formality for Humphreys and Ulster had grabbed themselves some breathing space on the scoreboard. It couldn’t last though and 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 moving the ball at pace Jim Thompson stepped inside for a score which Paterson converted to bring Andy Moffat’s side within two points of Ulster’s total.
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 stay alive into the last week of pool games.
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). Not Used: Anderson, Willis, Nagusa. 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). Not Used: Traynor, G Cross, Callam. Sin Bin: Young (7).
Referee: Christophe Berdos(France).
