Ulster maintain momentum

RUGBY HEINEKEN CUP: ULSTER 26 SCARLETS 16ULSTER KEPT the faintest of hopes alive of reaching the knock-out stage of the Heineken Cup with a thrilling victory over the Scarlets at Ravenhill last night.

Matt Williams's side smashed their Pool Four duck with an impressive win, the best performance of the Ulster coach's tenure and the province's first win in Europe since January when Bourgoin were edged out 25-24.

Given that Ulster went into the game without a point to their name in the pool following defeats to Stade Francais and Harlequins, who meet today, there remains little prospect of reaching the last eight, especially given the failure to land the bonus point last night.

But if Ulster can follow this victory up with another at Stradey Park next Friday night, then their campaign will still be a live issue in January, when Harlequins, currently joint top of the pool with Stade on nine points, travel to Belfast before Williams's men play their final game in Paris.

Williams will be pleased to have seen his side take another step up in their level of performance following successive victories over Munster, Portugal and Connacht.

The Ravenhill crowd left feeling full of early Christmas cheer with the warm belief that the misery of the last 18 months are perhaps finally behind them.

Ulster, who had suffered an blow before kick-off when Paddy Wallace was forced to withdraw having had a CT scan on a head injury yesterday afternoon, began in confident fashion in what was a lively opening by both sides.

After Ian Humphreys and Stephen Jones had cancelled each other out with a penalty apiece, the home side took control with superb first-half touchdowns by Darren Cave and Simon Danielli while Humphreys finished the half by slotting his second penalty just moments after Jones had cut the deficit with his second kick.

Indeed with Humphreys continuing where he left off against Connacht on the previous Friday, mixing a good kicking game with slick distribution skills and game line-breaking runs, Ulster could have led by more than 18-6 at the break.

When Jones slotted his third penalty six minutes into the second half, the home side briefly stuttered, taking their foot of the gas and if Jones had been able to land a relatively straightforward penalty just before the hour mark, Ulster might have faced a more tense final quarter.

As it was, Humphreys slotted a 45-metre penalty to steady the ship and then Pollock capped a superb performance with a try in the 64th minute after Danielli had forced the turnover from a Paul Steinmetz kick and Isaac Boss had shown speed and strength to hold off the cover tackle.

Ulster pushed hard for the fourth try and bonus point and Robbie Diack came close to barging his way over but it was the Scarlets who scored last with Ceiron Thomas touching down despite what looked to have been crossing in the lead up but it could not prevent the visitors suffering an 11th successive defeat in the Heineken Cup.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6 mins:I Humphreys pen, 3-0; 9 mins:S Jones pen, 3-3; 25 mins:D Cave try, Humphreys con, 10-3, 28 mins:Jones pen, 10-6; 33 mins:S Danielli try, 15-6; 39 mins:Humphreys pen, 18-6; 46 mins:Jones pen, 18-9; 60 mins:Humphreys pen, 21-9; 64 mins:D Pollock try, 26-9; 79 mins:C Thomas try, Jones con: 26-16

ULSTER:B Cunningham; S Danielli, D Cave, P Steinmetz (M McCrea 69), A Trimble; I Humphreys (N O'Connor 71), C Willis (I Boss 50); J Fitzpatrick (T Court 50), R Best, BJ Botha, E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris (M McCullough 69), D Pollock, R Diack.

Yellow cards:M McCrea

SCARLETS:M Stoddart (L Williams 71); C Thomas, R King, J Davies, M Jones; S Jones, M Roberts (G Cattle 71); I Thomas (P John 66), M Rees (K Owens 55), D Manu, V Cooper, D Day, D Jones (J Edwards 71), S Easterby, D Lyons. Attendance: 8,729

Referee:A Small (RFU)