Ulster 20 Cardiff 3:IT CERTAINLY wasn't pretty but the net result was that Ulster, overnight at least, took Cardiff Blues' place at the top of the table and stretched their unbeaten run to three games in front of a crowd of 6,555.
Overall, it was low on quality and even lower on entertainment with Darren Cave’s first-half tries the rare highlights on a night that saw the almost traditional Ravenhill rain sweep intermittently across the ground.
Aside from the win, and a reasonably impressive debut outing for former Auckland Blues player Jared Payne, Brian McLaughlin’s chief concerns will be the injuries to Cave, who retired at half-time, and Ian Humphreys who shipped a late hit from Casey Laulala.
The game came to life after an opening half hour of poor handling and decision making which were hardly helped by the conditions though one break by new signing from Payne did show promise only for the fullback to butcher the chance by throwing a forward pass to Craig Gilroy.
Humphreys also had a less than memorable opening 30 minutes with only one successful kick from four attempts before Ulster made their superior possession and territory count with two quickly taken scores from the in-form Cave.
For the first, the impressive Gilroy popped up off his wing on the left channel after a Nevin Spence pass created the space. Gilroy lost his footing just short of the line and his pop pass to Cave saw the centre get the touchdown which Humphreys converted.
Three minutes later, Ulster struck again with a similar move with Ian Whitten’s trailer run being picked out by Spence again and Whitten burst through to pick out Cave who slid in under the cover. Humphreys nailed a super conversion and 17-0 up at the break, Ulster were looking good to push on for a possible bonus win.
However, the retirement of Cave with an unspecified leg injury upset Ulster’s attacking edge in midfield as Whitten moved in to partner Spence while replacement Adam D’Arcy moved onto the left wing. They were unable to profit and some poor handling saw them throw up a couple of good attacking opportunities. With frustration growing among their ranks, Xavier Rush was binned in the 54th minute for a high tackle on Pedrie Wannenburg.
Still, the binning saw the Blues produce what was easily their most effective period of play, though all they had to show for it was a Sweeney penalty three minutes after Rush’s return.
A worrying development for Ulster, though, came in the last seven minutes when Humphreys was taken off following what looked like a late and high hit by Laulala. His replacement Paddy Jackson kicked an injury-time penalty to stretch Ulster’s lead to 20-3 and right at the end, Payne was just held up short of scoring.
ULSTER: J Payne; C Gilroy, D Cave, N Spence, I Whitten; I Humphreys, P Marshall; D Fitzpatrick, A Kyriacou, J Cronin; L Stevenson, D Tuohy; P Wannenburg, C Henry, R Diack. Replacements: A D’Arcy for Cave (half-time), P McCallister for Fitzpatrick (52 mins), M McComish for R Diack, N Brady for A Kyriacou (both 64 mins), I Porter for P Marshall (67 mins), P Jackson for I Humphreys (74 mins), N McComb for D Tuohy, A Macklin for J Cronin (both 79 mins).
CARDIFF BLUES: C Czekaj; A Cuthbert, C Laulala, G Evans, T James; C Sweeney, L Jones; S Hobbs, T Rhys Thomas, S Andrews; M Paterson, P Tito (capt); M Molitika, M Williams, X Rush. Replacements: D Hewitt for G Evans (22-36 mins), D Hewitt for G Evans (half-time), R Rees for L Jones (46 mins), J Down for P Tito, N Trevett for S Hobbs, T Young for M Williams (all 67 mins).
Referee: J Jones (WRU).
