Glasgow Warriors 13

Ulster 19

ULSTER LOST GROUND in their battle with Leinster for a place in the Guinness PRO14 final as they came away from Glasgow with a hard-fought win but could not do enough to claim the all-important bonus point.

A purple patch just after the break was all they needed to secure the result but they could not find a way to match the bonus point the champions collected in Wales and now stand five points behind their rivals.

In terms of the quality of play, neither side were helped by an extended break – six weeks for Ulster and five for Glasgow – since they had last played and rust perhaps explained the mistakes that made early points hard to come by,

Both sides had opportunities but they insisted on going for attacking line-outs out when points were on offer and though Ulster did mange to get the ball over the line through Marcel Coetzee, the ruling was that he had failed to ground it.

So the game wore on with handling mistakes keeping proceedings lively, if pointless, until Scotland fly half Adam Hastings, making his come back from a four-month injury lay-off, at last was handed the kicking tee and duly landed the points.

It took until the final seconds of the half for Ulster to reply, Ian Madigan snatching an interception to set up the counter attack. John Cooney was up to break clear and Michael Lowry popped in support to run in the try.

Cooney converted to send his side into the break with their noses in front.

It was a similar pattern to the start of the second half with Glasgow getting the first points through Hastings’ boot, but Ulster replying with a quick try, this time coming from Craig Gilroy after replacement prop Tom O’Toole and Lowry had set him up seconds after he had lost the ball going for the line.

This time, though, there was plenty of time for them to add to the tally as they stepped up the pace and started, for the first time in the game, to dominate both territory and possession, stringing together long stretches of multi-phase play.

The reward came through the forwards after they kicked for the corner and mauled their way to the line with Nick Timoney  the man to ground it at the back, hading Cooney an easy conversion.

It turned out to be vital as Alby Mathewson got himself sent to the sin bin for two quick penalty offences. Glasgow took full advantage, running a penalty and working prop Aki Seiuli over for the score that brought them back within range and forcing Ulster to settle for the just a win and no bonus point.

Scorers

Glasgow Warriors: Try: Aki Seiuli (76)
Conversion: Ross Thomson [1 from 1]
Penalties: Adan Hastings [2 from 2]

Ulster: Tries: Michael Lowry (39), Craig Gilroy (56), Nick Timoney (63)
Conversion: John Cooney [2 from 3]

Glasgow Warriors: Huw Jones, Ratu Tagive, Robbie Fergusson, Sam Johnson, Rufus McLean; Adam Hastings (Ross Thompson, 64), Jamie Dobie (Sean Kennedy, 67); Oli Kebble (Aki Seiuli, 60), Johnny Matthews (Grant Stewart, 41), Enrique Pieretto (D’arcy Rae, 71), Richie Gray, Leone Nakarawa (TJ Ioane, 59), Rob Harley, Thomas Gordon, Ryan Wilson (C) (James Scott, 62).

Ulster: Michael Lowry, Craig Gilroy, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Rob Lyttle, Ian Madigan, John Cooney (Alby Mathewson, 67, sin bin: 74-end); Eric O’Sullivan (Andrew Warwick, 49), John Andrew (Adam McBurney, 49), Marty Moore (Tom O’Toole, 47), Alan O’Connor, Kieran Treadwell (Cormac Izuchukwu, 59), Nick Timoney, Jordi Murphy (C), Marcell Coetzee (Greg Jones, 41).

Referee: Ben Blain (Scotland)

Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey take the fine-tooth comb to Ireland’s defeat to France and get to the bottom of their issues on both sides of the ball:

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