A John Cooney double ensured Ulster ended their South African double-header on a high after the Irish province sealed a comfortable victory over Isuzu Southern Kings.

Hurting from a hammering against Toyota Cheetahs a week earlier, Dan McFarland’s men bounced back in emphatic fashion by running in six tries against the hosts in Port Elizabeth.

Ulster bagged the try bonus-point within 30 minutes with Cooney’s opener quickly followed by further first-half scores from Luke Marshall, Rob Herring and Matt Faddes.

Cooney’s second made sure of the result before the half-time whistle had blown, while Sean Reidy made it six after the restart as Kings hit back through Tertius Kruger and Aston Fortuin.

Key moments

Ulster’s defeat to Cheetahs was their first to a South African opponent in the Championship and they came out of the blocks with a point to prove at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Only a minute had passed when smart-thinking from Cooney saw the scrum-half touch down just to the right of the posts for the opening try, before adding the simple conversion.

Kings briefly rallied and their first sustained period of possession resulted in three points after Ulster were penalised in front of the posts, with Demetri Catrakilis kicking the penalty.

But it was not long before Ulster stepped on the gas, with Marshall spotting a hole in the hosts’ defence before sprinting between the posts to present Cooney with a simple conversion.

A third try arrived just three minutes later when Herring capitalised on more sloppy defending from the Kings to cross the whitewash, with the extras added again to make it 21-3.

The bonus-point was secured before the half-hour mark, Faddes this time the man to benefit after pouncing on a clever cross-field kick to score as Cooney converted successfully.

Cooney then bagged his second try of the game, but only after brilliant deception from Marcell Coetzee left Kings’ defenders trailing in his wake before putting his teammate through.

Kruger pulled one back for the hosts just before half-time, with Catrakilis converting, and Kings showed more resilience after the restart as nearly 20 minutes passed without another point.

That scoreless period was eventually ended in the 58th minute when Reidy crashed over for Ulster’s sixth try from a driving lineout, with Cooney maintaining his perfect kicking record.

Fortuin scored a consolation for Kings and they almost added a third in the closing minutes, only for Ulster’s defence to hold firm as the visitors completed an impressive win.

Man of the match

There were a number of potential candidates for the Ulstermen, most notably Cooney after his 22-point haul.

But Faddes caused the Kings’ defence no end of problems all afternoon and grabbed the bonus-point try after collecting Billy Burns’ cross-field kick.

Play of the day

Cooney may have been the man to dot down Ulster’s fifth try but it was Coetzee who deserved all the plaudits after bouncing off the Kings defence with a powerful run through the middle.

The South African No.8 then threw a magnificent windmill dummy, leaving another defender chasing his shadow, before offloading to the onrushing Cooney who cantered over the line.

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