Edinburgh played their part in a gripping encounter at Ravenhill on Friday night, but fell short of recording what would have been their third win in four Magners League visits to Belfast.
Rob Moffat’s side were in contention on the scoreboard until the very last, Tim Visser and Ben Cairns each supplying second half tries, but streetwise Ulster managed to keep their noses in front despite Edinburgh’s persistence.
The capital club will take heart from the fact that a number of areas of their game were much improved from last week’s game against Munster, and will now throw themselves into preparations for the visit of Leinster next Friday (Murrayfield Stadium, kick-off 7.05pm).
A bright, clear day in Belfast became a crisp autumnal evening and it was Edinburgh who were caught cold as Ulster raced into an almost immediate lead. A cross-kick from Niall O’Connor in the second minute had the visitors straight on the back foot, and although home wing Andrew Trimble was grounded just before the line, he had enough momentum to surge over at the second attempt.
Stung into action by this early blow, Edinburgh quickly regrouped to produce a spell of pressure that saw them advance with menace through the Ulster half. After Mike Blair and Phil Godman shuttled possession across the face of the home defence, Alex Grove took the move on at pace and looked set to cross at the far corner only to be pulled up agonisingly short.
Referee Alan Falzone, officiating in the Magners League for the first time, hauled play back for an earlier infringement, and Chris Paterson stepped up to do the needful from the tee.
The game swiftly developed into the sort of intense affair we have come to expect from meetings between these sides. The breakdown, in particular, was fiercely contested, both teams giving as good as they got on the deck. Roared on by a passionate home crowd, Ulster proceeded to win a couple of penalties, one for a scrum offence, the other for holding on. O’Connor goaled the second award to put the hosts 8-3 ahead.
Edinburgh attempted to again hit back straight away. A Cairns dart up the left was halted just as things were beginning to open up, while the visiting back row sought valiantly to provide a supply of clean ball for the conjurers behind.
Nonetheless, it was Ulster who forced the next bit of movement on the scoreboard, their forwards recycling the ball with patient alacrity close to the Edinburgh line, before it was whipped across to O’Connor and subsequently Ian Whitten, who went over in the right-hand corner.
After O’Connor missed the conversion, Edinburgh again went on the attack, Netani Talei, Allan Jacobsen and Visser all making good ground deep in enemy territory and forcing a penalty that Paterson banged over to bring the score to 13-6.
Just before half-time, the full-back erred marginally with another kick, Phil Godman having gone close with an ambitious drop-goal attempt launched in the knowledge that the penalty was coming.
Immediately after the restart, O’Connor stretched Ulster’s advantage with his second three-pointer of the night. The Edinburgh back division was, at this stage, adjusting to a couple of shifts brought about by the halftime substitution of Paterson, withdrawn as a precautionary measure after taking a minor blow to the head. John Houston, the Gala man’s replacement, went to outside centre, with Cairns retreating to full-back.
As for fellow back-three man Visser, it was simply business as usual. The Dutchman, who has enjoyed a sensational start to the new campaign, came up with a breathtaking 46th-minute score to bring Edinburgh right back into the game.
The try, Visser’s fourth in three games this term, was the result of a majestic 60m-run that saw the wing see off Paul Emerick and Jamie Smith with a brusqueness that bordered on contempt. Having assumed kicking responsibilities in Paterson’s absence, Godman landed a challenging conversion to cut the deficit to three points.
This time it was Ulster’s turn to launch an immediate riposte, their back-five forwards injecting urgency into the breakdown and forcing another penalty very much within O’Connor’s range. To compound Edinburgh’s frustration, blindside flanker Scott Newlands was sent to the sin bin at the same episode, the referee indicating that he had lost patience after issuing a couple of prior warnings.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Edinburgh kept coming. Their reward for maintaining the same level of attacking ambition was another penalty, awarded for Ulster side-entry. Godman did the needful to take the score to 19-16, but an O’Connor drop goal soon restored Ulster’s six-point cushion.
The final quarter brought increasingly frenetic fare. Edinburgh experienced a couple of hairy moments in defence, but continued to ask questions of the Ulster rearguard. The feeling around Ravenhill was that the next score would be pivotal, and disappointingly for Edinburgh, it was the home side who managed to nail it.
Quick ruck ball allowed Ulster to attack the left of the Edinburgh defence, whereupon a searing break from Darren Cave saw the outside centre go over. O’Connor kicked the conversion to make it 29-16 for the hosts.
Not to be outdone by his first-half opposite number, Cairns seized on a loose ball close to the Ulster line and crossed to set up a frantic finish. Shortly after Godman missed out by inches with his attempted conversion, Dave Denton entered the fray in place of Newlands to make his Edinburgh debut. Unfortunately for the young buck and his new colleagues, it wasn't to be a winning one, but Friday's Leinster showdown offers an immediate chance for redemption.
Ulster: J Smith; P Emerick, D Cave, I Whitten, A Trimble; N O’Connor, P Marshall; B Young, A Kyriacou, T Court, J Muller (captain), R Caldwell, S Ferris, C Henry, R Diack
Replacements: R Best, P McAllister, BJ Botha, T Barker, P Wannenburg, I Porter, I Humphreys, I McIlwaine
Edinburgh: C Paterson; M Robertson, B Cairns, A Grove, T Visser; P Godman, M Blair; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, S MacLeod, C Hamilton, S Newlands, R Grant (captain), N Talei
Replacements: A Kelly, K Traynor, J Gilding, S McInally, D Denton, G Laidlaw, D Blair, J Houston
Ref: A Falzone (FIR)
