One F gets some man love from Darren and Andy after scoring his second try. Picture by Darren Kidd | Presseye.
Ulster’s 24 – 17 win over the Scarlets may indicate a more significant improvement to the season than the meagre seven point win would indicate.
The home side left another 20+ points on the field, in a game they dominated for 60 minutes, but the difficulty of their journey to realise their full potential was highlighted as they almost let their fourteen point lead slip in the closing minutes.
With the players suffering a crisis of confidence in the proceeding weeks the team had been instructed to, “Go out and play rugby. Go out and enjoy yourselves and don’t try and force it.” during this weeks build up and in fairness the team looked a lot more relaxed and inventive throughout, playing what was in front of them rather than their previous stilted play.
Unfortunately they were a bit too relaxed in the opening minutes as they gifted Scarlets the opening score as they tried to run the ball out of the 22 after fumbling the kick off. A reckless pass from Pedrie Wannenburg was gobbled up by Sean Lamont who trotted over for one of his easiest tries. 0 – 5 to the Scarlets.
Playing into a strong wind Ulster stuck to their task and continued to move the ball at every opportunity but were unable to capitalise on their play with forward passes at key moments letting them down.
Scarlets, however, made the most of their opportunities and winger Viliame Iongi jinked his way to the line brushing off tackles from Darren Cave and Craig Gilroy to score the Scarlets’ second try taking the score to 0 – 10 after 20 minute
Ulster got on the scoreboard with a Humphreys penalty a few minutes later and despite being ten points down they continued to play heads up rugby with Paul Marshall prominent with his trademark sniping breaks. Chances went begging but Ulster finally gor their reward when an intelligent blindside break from Marshall was driven on by Cave and the ball was quickly moved to Stephen Feris who barged over for Ulsters opening try.
The conversion was missed but Ulster were happy to go into the break 8 – 10 with the benefit of the wind to come.
Two quick Humphreys penalties put Ulster in the lead and a third on the 60th minute put them seven points clear at 17 – 10. With Pienaar on for the impressive Marshall, Ulster continued to move the ball at pace and, with a fair bit more inventiveness than they had exhibited in past games, a drive up the middle of the park was quickly moved right to find Ferrris in space with, to the delight of the crowd, the big bruiser bouncing the remaining defenders to to score Ulster’s second. Humphreys converted and Ulster looked to be cruising at 24 – 10 with Scarlets offering little in the second half.
McLaughs emptied the rest of the bench and the wheels fell off. Scarlets sniffed a chance to get something out of the game and they piled on the pressure with Ulster reverting to their old selves in response. Adam Macklin was binned and Scarlets scored from a scrum under the posts with Kieran Murphy sliding over for Jones to convert, setting up a tense finish.
Ulster managed to hold on and the game finished with a much needed win for the home side with the final score reading Ulster 24 Scarlets 17.
| Team Details |
Ulster (15-9): Adam D’Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Nevin Spence, Craig Gilroy, Ian Humphreys, Paul Marshall. (1-8): T0m Court, Rory Best, John Afoa, Johann Muller (capt), Dan Tuohy, Stevie Ferris, Chris Henry, Pedrie Wannenburg. (16-23): Nigel Brady, Paddy McAllister, Adam Macklin, Louis Stevenson, Robbie Diack, Ruan Pienaar, Patrick Jackson, Ian Whitten
Scarlets (15-9): Daniel Evans, Viliami Iongi, Nick Reynolds, Adam Warren, Sean Lamont, Stephen Jones (capt), Gareth Davies. (1-8): Phil John, Ken Owens, Deacon Manu, Lou Reed, Adam Powell Mat Gilbert, Rob McCusker, Kieran Murphy. (16-23): Emyr Phillips, Iestyn Thomas, Simon Gardiner, Damian Welch, Johnathan Edwards, Rhodri Williams, Daniel Newton, Iolo Evans.
Attendance: 8,117
| The Front Row Review |
At long last Ulster looked to play some rugby this season. Yes there were plenty of mistakes but at least they came from inventive play with Ulster looking to capitalise on heads up rugby rather than their previous stilted and turgid performances when they struggled with a fairly limited and predictable game plan.
In fairness it was a pretty limited Scarlets side and anything short of a win would have been a big, big, disappointment but rather than try and grind something out Ulster looked to go on the attack and had the confidence that they could outgun their opponents.
They left plenty of scores on the pitch but the change in tactics should not be underestimated and if the management can continue to trust the players and play to their strengths, rather than try to nullify those of other sides, then we may be treated to some exciting games this season! Sure we might lose one or two through over exuberance but, if they are allowed to polish their attacking skills, some team will get a bit of a hammering!
Ulster don’t have a better chance than the two games against Aironi than to hone their attacking edge and, if they do click, those two bonus point wins might not be as far off as they where last weekend!
Lot happier today!
| Blatent Plug Warning! |
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You can view the full match here on BBC i Player.
Highlights from the boys on the UAFC below.
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One Response to “PRO12: Ulster 24 Scarlets 17”
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There were some who were trying and some whowere not . Some good individual performances and some best forgotten. That adds up in my book to a failure to play as a team inhibited not by game plans but by a lack of confidence in team mates a fear based on the anticipatiom of the next horror mistake which will give away amatch losing try
I doubt if there was one spectator after 40 minutes was 100 % confident of a win I expect most felt it was a match that could be lost due to over extended ambition or a defensive lapse.
and but for two trys by Ferris Ulster really never looked as if the backs would successfully gel into a try scoring combination.
I wish i had your confidence John but until the backs get their act together bonus points look like wishful thinking. l
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