ULSTER SPIKE EDINBURGH GUNS
24 October - Edinburgh Rugby 3 Ulster 41
Have you ever had a day when nothing seems to go right?? Multiply that by the number you first thought of and you'll get some idea of the sort of evening Edinburgh Rugby have just had.? The Gunners chose tonight to put in what was probably their worst performance for several years against an Ulster side that was too slick and streetwise for the Young Guns.
Five well-taken tries gave Ulster a runaway 41-3 victory, and in truth Edinburgh never looked like getting over the tryline throughout the match.? With the exception of the lineout, which performed far better than in Neath last week, Edinburgh were second-best in every aspect of the game.? Ulster won the match up front, with a dominant scrummage and a highly effective driving maul.? Their tries generally came off the back of mauls in the enemy 22, with runners coming on to the ball at pace on intelligent angles.
Where Ulster were winning quick ball at the breakdown, Edinburgh seemed to take an age to recycle; where Ulster backs were taking the ball on the move, too often Gunners backs were receiving the ball standing still.? But perhaps the hardest lesson of this game for the youngsters was the importance of taking your chances when you get them.? Warnock missed three penalties in the first half.? Derrick Lee took over the kicking duties in the second half and managed a 50% return.? Meanwhile Ulster stand-off Larkin returned two penalties from three attempts and goaled all five Ulster tries.
Once again, Edinburgh started slowly, with a purposeful Ulster team putting them under pressure.? The Gunners weathered the early storm and Tom Philip again made several useful breaks.? One of these almost led to a try on 11 minutes as the young centre broke upfield then tried a chip into the corner for Sharman to chase, only to see his kick go straight out.? But even then, Edinburgh's cutting edge seemed to be elsewhere.? Yet although Ulster were running some impressive patterns, the Edinburgh defence was coping fairly comfortably.
A Larkin penalty for coming in from the side of the maul took the score to 3-0 Ulster at the end of the first quarter, Warnock having missed two penalties.? Shortly after another Edinburgh penalty miss, poor tackling allowed Constable in under the posts, Larkin converting to leave the score 10-0 Ulster at half-time.? It was a bad time to lose a try as the game had been fairly evenly poised up to that point.? Had Edinburgh kicked their goals, the score would have been 10-9 and it would have been game on.
With the wind favouring Edinburgh in the second half, both Warnock and Southwell produced several telling touch finders to put Ulster under pressure in the first ten minutes.? The pressure told with a penalty for Ulster offside, converted by Lee on 47 minutes.? While kickers nowadays muck about with tees and sand and all sorts of other aids, it was good to see Dessie stick his heel in the ground, place the ball, and hoof the ball through the posts.? Was this the start of another Gunners comeback?
No it wasn't.? The now legendary Domino's Pizza "5 Minute Mayhem" coincided with a prolonged period of mayhem in the Gunners' defence.? First tackles were increasingly missed, and a number of promising Garryowens were wasted as the Ulster back three dodged the follow-up tacklers to launch another attack.? The Ulster maul was in full flow, and left wing Howe scored an excellent try after a lengthy forward rumble had almost made it across the line.? Constable and Topping then scored within two minutes of each other in the last fifteen minutes to put the game out of sight, and Edinburgh then conceded the defeat by making wholesale substitutions to give game time to some more youngsters.? Man of the match Constable rounded off the Ulster win with a try on 75 minutes to send the vocal travelling support back over the water in jovial mood.?
Edinburgh didn't do themselves justice tonight and Gunners fans will be looking for some fairly major improvements in their team's performance.? Last season's trip to Newport in a meaningless Heineken Cup game saw a number of youngsters being blooded by coach Hadden.? So fast has their progress been since then that Messrs Cross, Hogg, Philip and Kellock are now crucial members of the Edinburgh squad.? They and the rest of the squad will have to get this defeat out of their system quickly and look to get back to winning ways, starting next Saturday in Wales.
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Ulster centre Ryan Constable for his hat-trick performance.? Flinty beat off Tom Philip's challenge to win the Supporters Club trophy, the first of his fledgling career.
If you plan to go to the game in Newport next Saturday evening, get in touch with Ann McKinsley at Edinburgh Rugby on 0131 346 5252 edinburghrugby@sru.org.uk
Read Bill Lothian's post mortem in the Evening News: http://www.sport.scotsman.com/rugby_superteams.cfm
Scorers:?Edinburgh:?Lee 1P
Ulster:?Larkin 2P 5C, Constable 3T, Howe, 1T, Topping 1T
Edinburgh team:?D Lee; C Joiner,? T Philip, C Sharman; A Warnock, G Burns; A Jacobsen, C di Ciacca, J Brannigan, G Perrett, A Kellock, T Blackadder (capt), A Dall, Hogg Substitutes: A Kelly, C Smith. A Strokosh, S Cross, R Lawson, R Mathieson, M di Rollo
Ulster team: ??Cunningham; Topping, Constable, Stewart, Howe; larkin, Campbell;Young, Shields, Moore, Mustchin, McCullough, Ward (capt), McWhirter
Referee: ?P Adams (Wales)
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