Ulster 24

Emirates Lions 17

ULSTER SUCCESSFULLY SECURED victory but largely failed to convince in defeating the Lions at Kingspan Stadium.

On a night when the northern province handed a debut to Academy back-rower Lorcan McLoughlin and welcomed back Marty Moore after 11 months out injured, there was precious little else to remember from a sodden occasion in Belfast.

Having staked Munster a two-score lead a week prior, Ulster would again fall behind early on with the opening quarter of the game a wholly one-sided affair in terms of possession.

When Richard Kriel scored off Sanele Nohamba’s kick to the corner with ten minutes gone, it produced a fully deserved lead for the South African side in their third and final game of a northern hemisphere trip.

James Hume, a lone bright spark in the Ulster back-line during the first-half, would give Ulster a parity that their share of the play hardly merited but the Lions would come back again to lead through Hanru Sirgel’s close-range score.

Hampered by a litany of mistakes, most punishingly at the line-out and in their handling, Dan McFarland will have at least known his side had plenty of opportunity to improve after the turn.

They would, to a degree at least, taking the lead through a pair of tries in the opening seven minutes following the restart.

First Ireland wing Jacob Stockdale continued his fine try-scoring run to start the season, put over in the corner by Stuart McCloskey.

While another successful effort from Nohamba from the tee would follow soon after, Rob Herring’s mauled effort would give Ulster their first advantage of the night.

The bonus-point would prove elusive however with Ulster requiring a John Cooney penalty to nudge themselves into a seven-point lead with a squandered tap-and go from five metres out representing their best chance to claim a full haul.

A fourth win from five league games so far for Dan McFarland’s men, and their fifth game of the season to end with no more than a score between the teams. Ulster will travel to Edinburgh next week knowing that they will require a considerably improved performance to keep their winning run going.

Ulster Scorers:

• Tries – James Hume, Jacob Stockdale, Rob Herring
• Conversions – Nathan Doak 3/3
• Penalties – John Cooney 1/1

Lions Scorers:

• Tries – Richard Kriel, Hanru Sirgel
• Conversions – Sanele Nohamba 2/2
• Penalties – Sanele Nohamba 1/1

Ulster: Stewart Moore, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Jake Flannery (Billy Burns, 61), Nathan Doak (John Cooney, 51), Andrew Warwick (Eric O’Sullivan, 61), Rob Herring, Scott Wilson (Marty Moore, 45), Alan O’Connor (Harry Sheridan, 70), Iain Henderson (captain), Dave Ewers, Reuben Crothers (Lorcan McLoughlin, 55), David McCann.

Not used: John Andrew, Aaron Sexton.

Emirates Lions: Quan Horn, Richard Kriel (Rabz Maxwane, 51-61), Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw (captain), Edwill van der Merwe, Sanele Nohamba, Morne van den Berg (Jordan Hendrikse, 67), Corne Fourie (JP Smith, 57), PJ Botha (Jaco Visagie, 57), Asenathi Ntlabakanye (Ruan Smith, 70), Ruben Schoeman (Ruan Delport, 75), Willem Alberts, Hanru Sirgel, Emmanuel Tshituka (JC Pretorius, 73), Francke Horn (Ruan Venter, 40).

Player of the Match: Dave Ewers