Neath 15 Ulster 34:ULSTER SURVIVED a second-half comeback to secure a hard-fought victory over Neath at the Gnoll last night.
John Burns, Craig Gilroy and Robbie Diack all crossed for tries in the first half. Neath stormed back in the second as Ulster’s inexperience and naivety showed, but they put the result beyond doubt with late Blane McIlroy and Peter Nelson tries.
Ulster opened the scoring on three minutes with a Jackson penalty and three minutes later Burns grabbed the first try.
Ulster extended their lead on 20 minutes after Marshall and released Gilroy to score. Neath hit back with a penalty on 32 minutes but just before the stroke of half-time Diack crashed over for Ulster’s third try, taking Gilroy’s pop from close in.
Jackson slotted the conversion to hand his side a 20-3 lead at the interval.
But a fired-up Neath scored two close-range tries in quick succession through Lee Evans and Kevin James. Langdon converted the second to bring the hosts back within five points and matters were made worse when Diack was sent to the sin-bin.
NEATH: A Bramwell; K James, N Brew, G McCarthy, J Davies; D Langdon, C Morgans; N Downs, A James, J Reeves; A Powell, M Collins; L Evans, G Gravell, S Jones. Replacements: A Whitney for Gravell (39 mins), A Littlehales for A James (40 mins), L Ford for Brew (43 mins), A Jenkins for Davies (45 mins),T Price for Reeves (57 mins), J Thomas for Langdon (63 mins), O Ford for Downs (67 mins), G Short for Powell (68 mins), L Ward for Evans (71 mins).
ULSTER: P Nelson; M Allen, C Farrell, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, I Porter; P McAllister , J Burns, J Cronin; L Stevenson, N McComb; M McComish, W Faloon , R Diack. Replacements: C Gaston for Allen, S Olding for Marshall, A Birch for Faloon (all 40 mins), C Black for McAllister, A Macklin for Cronin (both 45 mins), B McIlroy for Porter (60 mins), J Simpson for McComish (68 mins)
