Ulster go on the rampage

Ulster - 37 Edinburgh - 0 Ulster increased their lead at the top of the Celtic League with an impressive performance against a poor Edinburgh side at Ravenhill last night.Alan Solomons' side controlled the game from start to finish and scored five tries to claim a valuable bonus point as the beaten Celtic Cup finalists offered little resistance

Ulster outhalf Adam Larkin opened the scoring with a third minute penalty after Edinburgh's Craig Harrison held on to the ball in the tackle.

Irish winger Tyrone Howe increased the home side's lead with the game's first try in the 10th minute.

Flanker Neil Best picked the ball up in midfield and cut through a non-existent defence, drew the last man and fed Howe who had a simple run-in from 30 metres. Larkin added the conversion.

Larkin landed his second penalty on 25 minutes after a period of pressure from Ulster.

Howe grabbed his second try two minutes later after finishing off a slick handling move involving Paul Steinmetz and Bryn Cunningham.

Scrumhalf Kieran Campbell made the initial break, he was stopped but the ball was spun wide to Steinmetz who fed Cunningham and Howe came in on a scissors move to score.

Edinburgh's cause wasn't helped when scrumhalf Graeme Burns got sin-binned on the stroke of half-time as the referee finally lost patience with the visitors' killing of the ball.

Matt Sexton added another Ulster try eight minutes after the break. Best cut through and fed Andy Ward who was stopped short, Campbell released Steinmetz from a ruck and the centre put Sexton clear under the posts.

Replacement full back Paddy Wallace secured the home side's bonus point after Edinburgh lost the ball in midfield. Ward broke away and passed to James Topping who put Wallace clear.

Ulster were then able to finish with a flourish when Larkin went over for a fifth try in injury-time.

The ball was worked through a number of phases. Larkin changed the point of attack with an inside pass to Matt McCullough, Neil Doak moved it on and Larkin went over before adding the conversion.

SCORERS: Ulster: T Howe 2 tries; M Sexton try; P Wallace try; A Larkin try, 3 cons; 2 pens.

ULSTER: B Cunningham; J Topping, S Stewart, P Steinmetz, T Howe; A Larkin, K Campbell; R McCormack, M Sexton, R Moore, M McCullough, R Frost, N Best, N McMillan, A Ward. Replacements: P Shields for Sexton (48 mins), G Longwell for Frost (48), W Brosnihan for Ward (64), N Doak for Campbell (69), P Wallace for Cunningham (30), S Young for Howe (64).

EDINBURGH: H Southwell; C Joiner, M Di Rollo, A Dickson, M Dey; A Monro, G Burns; R Mathieson, D Hall, J Brannigan, G Perrett, A Kellock, A Dall, S Cross, C Harrison. Replacements: A Kelly for Hall (57 mins), B Fisher for Harrison (60), A Warnock for Burns (50).

Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).