A pair of early tries enabled Ulster to see off Edinburgh 14-7 in a hard-fought encounter at the Kingspan Stadium on Friday night. Edinburgh had beaten Ulster earlier in the season but couldn’t repeat that feat as the hosts leapfrogged their visitors in the GUINNESS PRO12 table. A penalty try and a Rory Scholes score had the Irish province 14-0 up within ten minutes and they held that advantage until half-time, as they looked to end a three-match losing streak against Scottish opponents. Cornell du Preez dotted down for the visitors ten minutes into the second half but despite their best efforts they failed to close the gap any further as Les Kiss’ troops notched a fifth win of the campaign. Ulster made a number of changes from the side that lost 8-3 to Leinster last time out and raced into the lead after just four minutes. Concerted pressure saw Chris Henry nearly cross the whitewash but after a TMO review, they were awarded a penalty try after Edinburgh were adjudged to have illegally stopped Ruan Pienaar sneaking over. Paddy Jackson duly added the straightforward conversion but Jack Cuthbert was less successful from the tee soon after, as his long penalty fell short. Things went from bad to worse for Edinburgh on 12 minutes as they – despite having a GUINNESS PRO12-best 91 per cent tackle success heading into the game – failed to take down Scholes, allowing the winger to slice through the defence, sidestep the last defender and touch down. Jackson again added the extras and at 14-0 up, Ulster continued to dominate – almost increasing their lead, only to knock on five metres from the try-line. Edinburgh were undoubtedly on top in the scrum but consistently failed to turn that into points meaning they still trailed 14-0 at half-time. The Scottish outfit looked like a different side after the break as substitute Hamish Watson took the game to the hosts with some aggressive running. And they were rewarded on 49 minutes as Du Preez collected beautifully to dot down, Cuthbert nailing the tricky touchline conversion to narrow the deficit to seven points. Stuart McCloskey thought he had grabbed a third Ulster try only for the TMO to rule he was stopped inches short and the hosts continued to pile the pressure on. To their credit, the Edinburgh defence held firm although Ulster did look dangerous in the wide channels with Luke Marshall particularly threatening. The centre looked to have put the game to bed as he slid over for a 72nd-minute try but the TMO once again denied Kiss’ troops thanks to an infringement during the build-up. And Ulster saw off any late pressure as they will now head into European action full of confidence. To buy tickets for the GUINNESS PRO12 Grand Final click here. Also follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12.
