Ulster 15 Ospreys 14:ULSTER BADLY needed this one to stay in the mix for the play-offs and as such there was no better time to deliver another Ravenhill win than last night. But this one went right to the wire with Ospreys' Eli Walker's late try nearly leading to another with the last play of the game when only an intervention from Willie Faloon and then a kick to touch from John Afoa saved Ulster.
Ulster found the Ospreys rush defence suffocating their attacking plays and forced them to kick too much ball away as referee Neil Hennessey was on them at the breakdown with early penalties for holding on. Outhalf Ruan Pienaar’s long-range penalty fell short and then Ulster’s Pedrie Wannenburg was yellow-carded for blocking a tap and go from Kahn Fotualli near Ulster’s line. The Ospreys went for the corner from the penalty and even though the lineout possession was hardly clean, a couple of swift rucks later saw Joe Bearman going over. Dan Biggar made the extras and the visitors led 7-0 after 16 minutes.
Pienaar landed a penalty but then fell short three minutes later.Just on half-time the Ospreys were penalised for dragging down a maul and two minutes later Ulster were awarded a penalty try after Dan Biggar had prevented a try by knocking the ball down. Biggar was shown yellow and Pienaar converted for a 10-7 lead at the break.
Ulster quickly made their extra man count as Paddy Wallace was put in at the left corner. Pienaar missed the conversion but Ulster led 15-7 after 48 mnutes.
Ulster’s Stefan Terblanche made a try-saving tackle on Hanno Dirksen on 60 minutes. Then with two minutes to go Eli Walker beat three tackles to make the line with Biggar’s conversion cutting Ulster’s lead to one point. Then with the final play a cross-kick to Walker nearly made the line only for John Afoa to kick it dead.
ULSTER: S Terblanche; C Gilroy, N Spence, P Wallace, I Whitten; R Pienaar, P Marshall; P McAllister, A Kyriacou, J Afoa, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, C Henry (capt), W Faloon, P Wannenburg; Replacements: R Diack for P Wannenburg (53 mins), S Danielli for C Gilroy (63 mins), T Barker for L Stevenson (70 mins), N Brady for A Kyriacou (72 mins), C Black for P McCallister (72 mins), A D’Arcy for S Danielli (73 mins).
OSPREYS: R Fussell; H Dirksen, A Bishop, S Watermeyer, E Walker, D Biggar, K Fotuali’i; D Jones, S Baldwin, J Rees, I Gough, J King; T Smith (capt), S Lewis, J Bearman. Replacements: Ryan Bevington for D Jones (46 mins), Jonathan Thomas for I Gough (50 mins), Ashley Beck for S Watermeyer (55 mins), George Stowers for J Bearman (64 mins), Matthew Morgan for R Fussell (64 mins), Rhys Webb for K Fotuali’i (66 mins).
Referee: N Hennessy (WRU).
