Ulster's hopes hit after flat display

Llanelli Scarlets 17 Ulster 11:Ulster produced a horror show for coach Mark McCall in this Magners Celtic League tie at Stradey Park on Saturday.

How sick McCall will be of the sight of Scarlet after first seeing his European Cup hopes and now his Celtic League ambitions seriously dented by the Welsh region. And Isaac Boss damaged his shoulder and had to leave the pitch after just 17 minutes of the tie.

McCall had warned his team they had to win at Stradey, not only for the four points but to regain some momentum to their stop-start season and send a message of intent to their title rivals.

Instead, Leinster and the Ospreys were left smiling on Saturday night as Ulster failed to take the initiative with a woefully low-key display in Wales.

A losing bonus point reduced Leinster's lead to a single point but McCall was left cursing a missed opportunity to go top of the table.

"Clearly the title race is no longer in our own hands, but we shouldn't be really talking about winning titles after that performance. That was about as poor as it's been this season, it was very flat and very disappointing," said McCall.

"We had problems in the set-piece and that didn't allow us to get any shape. We lost a number of attacking lineouts and that had a real negative impact on the whole team."

Yet for a 20-minute spell either side of half-time, Ulster threatened to overturn a 9-3 deficit after Andrew Trimble raced clear to score the game's opening try and Tyrone Howe had a strong claim for a try waved away by Scottish referee Peter Allan.

Had David Humphreys the strength in his old legs to land a penalty from virtually the halfway line in the last minute of normal-time, Ulster could somehow have shared the spoils before Ceiron Thomas ended any doubt in injury-time. McCall added: "It's irrelevant to talk about what if, we didn't deserve to get anything from this game."

LLANELLI SCARLETS: M Stoddart; D Daniel, R King, G Evans, M Watkins; C Thomas, L Davies; I Thomas, A Gravelle, D Manu, V Cooper, S MacLeod, J Bater, N Thomas, G Thomas. Replacements: D Jones for N Thomas (52 mins), J Davies for Manu , B Davies for Stoddart (both 57 mins), I Afeaki for Cooper (65 mins), C Stuart-Smith for Davies (76 mins). Scorers: Try - B Davies. Pens - C Thomas (4).

ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, P Steinmetz, P Wallace, A Trimble; D Humphreys, I Boss, B Young, P Shields, S Best, J Harrison (capt), T Barker, S Ferris, R Wilson, K Dawson. Replacements: K Campbell for Boss (17 mins), R Caldwell for Barker, J Fitzpatrick for Young, (both 60 mins), K Maggs for Steinmetz, S Harding for Dawson (both 68), S Philpott for Sheilds (73 mins), P McKenzie for Hunphries (80 mins).

Scorers: Try - A Trimble. Pens - D Humphreys (2).

Referee: Peter Allan (Scotland).

P W D L F A B Pts Leinster 14 9 1 4 340 261 8 46

Ulster 15 9 1 5 326 223 7 45

Ospreys 14 9 0 5 326 281 6 42

Cardiff 13 8 0 5 254 211 5 37

Edinburgh 14 7 1 6 266 252 5 35

Dragons 13 7 0 6 237 201 6 34

Llanelli 13 7 0 6 297 319 5 33

Munster 14 7 0 7 235 217 4 32

Glasgow 15 7 0 8 295 302 4 32

Connacht 15 4 1 10 256 346 6 24

Border 14 1 0 13 141 360 4 8