Ulster battle to win over Glasgow to move to Pro 12 summit

Ulster 13 Glasgow Warriors 10

The goal was to bank a third successive win midway through this six-game segment and in that regard the primary aim was achieved but this was yet another rather ragged effort from Ulster.

They trailed 5-3 at the break and it took a try from Callum Black on his 100th cap to put them in the lead with sub Paddy Jackson's conversion and later penalty getting them there.

But the Warriors had the final say when sub Taqele Naiyaravoro grabbed an 80th minute try - with the visitors down to 14 men - to snatch a losing bonus point and mean that they outscored Ulster by two tries to one.

Not an ideal finish but at least Les Kiss has another win behind him.

It didn't start well for the home side with Ruan Pienaar missing an early penalty which looked very kickable and then Glasgow went down the field after the restart and Lee Jones was put over in the right corner.

Gregor Hunter missed the tricky ninth minute conversion but the home side did hit back with Pienaar narrowing the lead with, this time, a successful strike from the tee after 22 minutes.

The Springbok star was then close to a score only to be denied by the TMO after opposite number Ali Price beat him to a bobbling ball over the line.

Pienaar left shortly afterwards with an injury and Paul Marshall’s first act was to nearly score only for the TMO to rule that prop Sila Puafisi had got there first. That was as close as Ulster got to further eating into Glasgow’s lead before half-time with the reigning champions leaving the field 5-3 in front.

Ulster needed to do something and on 51 minutes Gilroy worked some magic to give his side rare territory and from the attack Black barged over with Jackson’s conversion giving the home side a 10-5 lead.

This became 13-5 on 65 minutes through a Jackson penalty after another Gilroy run had put them in prime position.

The Warriors were then reduced to 14 men when number eight Ryan Wilson was yellow-carded but Ulster failed to score, again leaving the last say to the visitors when sub Naiyaravoro to score bringing Gregor Townsend's men a losing bonus point.

Ulster: S Olding; C Gilroy, D Cave, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; S Windsor, R Pienaar; C Black, R Herring (capt), R Lutton; A O'Connor, F van der Merwe; R Diack, S Reidy, N Williams.

Replacements: Paul Marshall for Pienaar 29mins, Paddy Jackson for Windsor half-time, John Andrew for Herring 43 mins, Chris Henry for Reidy 53mins, Kyle McCall for Black 58 mins, Roger Wilson for N Williams 60 mins, S Arnold for J Stockdale 75mins, B Ross for R Lutton 76mins

Glasgow Warriors: P Murchie, L Jones, G Bryce, S Johnson, R Hughes, G Hunter, A Price; R Grant, P MacArthur, S Puafisi, G Peterson, L Nakawara, R Harley, S Favaro, R Wilson (capt)

Replacements: J Malcolm for P MacArthur 35mins, C Fusaro for S Favaro 39mins, P Horne for Hunter 55mins. J Strauss for L Nakarawa and A Allan for R Grant both 58 mins, T Naiyaravoro for Jones and G Hart for A Price both 64mins, D Rae for S Puafisi 69 mins,

Yellow cards: R Wilson 70mins

Referee: M Mitrea (FIR)