It was a flat and disappointing performance from Edinburgh Rugby tonight as Ulster, buttressed by their SANZAR international contingent, departed from Murrayfield with five RaboDirect PRO12 points in the bag (20-42).
Edinburgh now have two huge Heineken Cup games looming – against Racing Metro away next week then London Irish at home the week thereafter – but the pizzazz of recent Murrayfield outings was but a distant memory for the 3,792 crowd tonight and much improvement will be needed if Edinburgh are to reach the knockout stages of the European tournament.
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Ulster opened the scoring with a fourth minute penalty from stand-off Ian Humphreys but Edinburgh’s response was triggered by a searing break from Chris Paterson and Phil Godman’s cross kick from super quick ruck-ball almost released Tim Visser who was put into touch at the far-side 5m line.
Irish referee George Clancy penalised Edinburgh for side entry at the breakdown in the 11th minute and Humphreys was on target again before Edinburgh hit back immediately as two slack Ulster passes inside their own 22 were seized on by Nick De Luca who muscled his way over the try line.
Greig Laidlaw converted and Edinburgh had the lead (7-6).
Edinburgh now upped the pace and with Laidlaw sniping from a quickly-taken tap and Netani Talei mixing power and invention, Ulster slowed up ball at a breakdown and Laidlaw goaled his first penalty (10-6, 16 mins).
Ulster’s South African scrum-half Ruan Pienaar took over the goal-kicking duties to land an offside penalty as Humphreys departed with an injury to be replaced by eventual man of the match Paul Marshall (10-9, 20 mins) and, as Ulster attacked left then right, hooker Rory Best gratefully accepted an inside pass to beat Laidlaw’s tackle for the visitors’ first try.
Pienaar missed the conversion (10-14, 28 mins).
Ulster now had the initiative and when Andrew Trimble won an aerial tussle for the ball with Talei, slick Ulster handling enabled Dan Tuohy to crash over for an unconverted try in the corner almost immediately after for a double-whammy (10-19, 30 mins).
Later as Godman’s penalty touch-finder set up Geoff Cross on the charge from the lineout, Tuohy displayed the more cynical side to his game as he deliberately slowed up ball in the ruck. Laidlaw pulled back three points with his second penalty to bring hope to the scoreline at the interval.
Half-time: Edinburgh Rugby 13-19 Ulster
Ulster continued to dominate in the art of plucking high balls from the sky and Pienaar embellished the good work in that area with his second penalty within five minutes of the restart (13-22, 45 mins).
It got worse for Edinburgh as the animated sub scrum-half Marshall escaped down the narrow side and released Trimble who left Tim Visser looking flat-footed as he raced in for their third try.
Pienaar converted (13-29) leaving Edinburgh contemplating a comeback of Racing Metro proportions if they were to improve on their ninth place standing in the RaboDirect PRO 12.
It continued to look unlikely, however, as they were turned over while on the attack in the Ulster 22, the referee oblivious to Ulster players off their feet in the aftermath. Pienaar goaled his third penalty (13-32) as the home side's toil was unrelenting.
From nowhere, or so it seemed, Alun Walker was rewarded for his alertness at the back of a mis-firing Ulster lineout with the hosts’ second try, stealing the loose ball and showing some excellent footwark to snipe in from outside the 5m line.
Laidlaw converted with little over 20 minutes on the clock (20-32).
Disappointingly another turnover with Marshall and Trimble in concert again saw Darren Cave’s pace secure the visitors the four try bonus point, Pienaar converting from the touchline (20-37, 74mins).
Pienaar then rounded off matters with another penalty to leave Edinburgh with plenty of food for thought ahead of the next two crucial encounters.
Edinburgh Rugby: Chris Paterson; Tom Brown, Nick De Luca, James King, Tim Visser; Phil Godman, Greig Laidlaw captain; Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Sean Cox, Esteban Lozada, Stuart McInally, Roddy Grant, Netani Talei.
Substitutes: Alun Walker for Ford (52 mins), Kyle Traynor for Jacobsen (67 mins), Jack Gilding for Cross (69mins), Grant Gilchrist, Alan MacDonald for McInally (60 mins), Chris Leck for Godman (48 mins), Matt Scott for King (31 mins) and Jim Thompson for Paterson (58 mins).
Ulster: Stefan Terblanche; Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Ian Whitten, Craig Gilroy; Ian Humphreys, Ruan Pienaar; Tom Court, Rory Best, John Afoa, Johann Muller captain, Dan Tuohy, Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry, Pedrie Wannenburg.
Subtitutes: Andi Kyriacou for Best (69mins), Callum Black for Court (76 mins), Adam Macklin for Afoa (76 mins), Lewis Stevenson for Ferris (69mins), Willie Faloon for Wannenburg (11 mins), Paul Marshall for Humphreys (20 mins), Paddy Wallace for Whitten (59 mins), Adam D’Arcy for Gilroy (75mins).
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Attendance: 3792
