Ross Rennie produced another man-of-the-match award winning display as Edinburgh picked up their first away win of 2007 - emerging 20-14 victors over Ulster at Ravenhill. Matt Dey and Ben Cairns both scored breathtaking tries to give Edinburgh a healthy half-time lead at Ravenhill. Despite going behind to an early Tommy Bowe try, Edinburgh - led by captain Mike Blair - turned on the style and Phil Godman scored an impressive 10 points. A famous night in the opening chapter of the new regime, 30 November 2007 will always be remembered by Edinburgh fans as St Andy's Night after Robinson's Rookies came of age with a win.

Edinburgh applied early pressure to the Ulster defence with Phil Godman’s searching cross-field kick almost finding a black shirt and leading to a score.

But Ulster managed to score a breakway try when a fine counterattacking move was finished off by Tommy Bowe in the corner.

After controlling the opening minutes and appearing to have the upper hand, a lapse in concentration left the defence exposed and Ulster had men over the far side.

Edinburgh’s troubles were eased though when Ulster missed the conversion and then almost from the re-start, the men from the Castle were awarded a penalty for an infringement.

But unfortunately Godman’s kick sailed wide of the target and Edinburgh were still left chasing a five-point deficit after an explosive opening chapter of the game.

Captaining the side, Mike Blair led the fightback and his handling and awareness marked him out as the best player on the pitch by a country mile.

But Ulster repeatedly managed to break the line and rapidly gained territory with break after break –puncturing Edinburgh’s defence with incisive moves.

Looking revitalised and a far superior side to the toothless team that lost at Murrayfield in September, Ulster caused problems, but with Blair steadying the ship Edinburgh stood firm.

Nevertheless the signs were worrying because it seemed Ulster could carve through the Edinburgh defence at will and the situation kept Edinburgh on the back-foot.

After being let off the hook on three separate occasions by Ulster’s handling errors, a grubber from Godman was touched down by Matt Dey and the stand-off then added the extras.

The try appeared to rattle the nerves of the home side and, even though Edinburgh had spent the majority of the first half under the cosh, the away side had taken the lead.

Then Edinburgh really knocked the stuffing out of a previously rampant Ulster side by doubling their lead minutes later.

Captain Blair initiated the move that led to the second try when his pass was taken by Nick De Luca and the outside centre’s offload found Cairns who sprinted down the touchline to score.

After Ulster had missed a straightforward penalty, Edinburgh then heightened their woes when Godman nailed an awkward shot at goal from the touchline.

In the second half, Godman’s nerveless placekicking display continued when he nailed another testing penalty to silence the Ravenhill roar.

Ulster finally found their shooting boots when Paddy Wallace scored a penalty, but the home side were still left chasing a 12-point gap.

Heading into the final quarter of the game, Wallace reduced the deficit even further with another penalty to take the game to 11-20.

In front of a crowd of 9,750, Edinburgh were up against it in terms of preserving their lead as Ulster cranked up the pressure.

To prompt a grandstand finish Ulster stand-off Wallace struck over a penalty to lead Edinburgh just six points in front and possessing frayed nerves.

Then in the closing minutes, Godman was presented with a penalty within comfortable kicking range, but somehow his kick failed to hit the target.

As a result, the game went right down to the wire and with Ulster smelling blood, Edinburgh desperately hung on to secure their first away win of 2007 in their penultimate away game of the calendar year.

Edinburgh Rugby Club squad to play Ulster at Ravenhill (Friday 30 November, kick-off 7.30pm)
 
15 Ben Cairns
 
14 Andrew Turnbull
13 Nick De Luca
12 Matt Dey
11 Andrew Maxwell
 
10 Phil Godman
9 Mike Blair (captain)
 
1 Allan Jacobsen
2 Ross Ford
3 Gavin Kerr (Augusto Allori)
4 Matt Mustchin
5 Ben Gissing
6 Roland Reid
7 Ross Rennie
8 David Callam (Simon Cross)
 
Substitutes: Andrew Kelly, Augusto Allori, Craig Hamilton, Simon Cross, Ben Meyer, David Blair*, Alistair Warnock.
 
*= Member of Scottish Rugby’s Senior National Academy