Glasgow Warriors 17 Ulster 11
Glasgow Warriors continued their run of recent successes with victory over Ulster at a rain-soaked Scotstoun to narrow the gap between the two sides in the URC table to just a single point with the visitors on 44 and Warriors on 43.
Ulster looked dominant for much of the first half but when Glasgow deployed their formidable bench after the break, the balance swung in their favour, albeit Dan McFarland’s side showed real strength in hitting back just before full time to claim a losing bonus point.
The match at Scotstoun was expected to be a tight contest and that was how it unfolded in the first half, both sides cancelling out each other’s attacks with defence as solid as reinforced concrete. But when Ethan McIlroy failed to take a high ball the door opened for Glasgow, who struck minutes after from a five metre lineout with an unconverted maul try by flanker Sione Vailanu.
Thereafter it was Ulster who dominated the remainder of the first half and ultimately their pounding of the Glasgow line reaped points, the try coming from youngster Harry Sheridan. Nathan Doak failed with the conversion attempt but the scrumhalf atoned in the last play of the half with a long range penalty goal, giving his side a 8-5 interval advantage.
Glasgow quickly tried to claw back the deficit in the opening exchanges of the second half but the Warriors’ attempts to barge their way over the Ulster line came to naught.
As in the first half Ulster replied in kind and had a priceless chance to increase their lead from a five metre lineout. But again defence trumped attack. Then after Glasgow stepped up the tempo they made the best of a five metre lineout with a clever move around the front that ended with Jack Dempsey crashing over.
Glasgow looked threatening when replacement Ali Price made a slicing break, the support from Sam Johnson and Stafford McDowall making a try look likely. Ulster’s scramble defence, however, was up to the task of stopping the move.
The home side were given a further chance to nail the game, with a penalty kick to the corner and this time the Warriors made no mistake with their lineout maul, producing a try for Scotland hooker Fraser Brown. Crucially replacement outhalf Duncan Weir converted the try to put Glasgow nine points clear.
Inevitably such a tight game would have its own late drama and it came from an injury time penalty by Ulster’s replacement scrumhalf and Scotland prospect John Cooney to give his side a deserved losing bonus point.
Scorers: Glasgow Warriors – Vaillanu and Dempsey tries, Brown conversion, Weir penalty. Ulster – Sheridan try. Doak and Cooney penalties
GLASGOW WARRIORS: J McKay; C Forbes, S McDowall (Capt), S Johnson, O Smith; T Jordan, J Dobie; N McBeth, J Matthews, L Sordoni; L Bean, S Cummings; T Gordon, S Vailanu, J Dempsey.
Replacements: F Brown for J Matthews, A Price for Dobie, J Bhatti for N McBeath, S Berghan for L Sordino and JP du Preez for Cummings (all 57 mins), D Weir for Jordan (67 mins), A Samuel for Bean and E Ferrie for Vailanu (both 77 mins).
ULSTER: E McIlroy; B Moxham, J Hume, S Moore, J Stockdale; B Burns, N Doak; E O’Sullivan, T Stewart, J Toomaga-Allen; A O’Connor (Capt), K Treadwell; H Sheridan, J Murphy, N Timoney.
Replacements: R Sutherland for O’Sulliven (46 mins), C Gilroy for Moxham (57 mins), J Cooney for Doak (50 mins), J Andrew for T Stewart and G Jones for Timoney (both 61 mins), A Warwick for Toomaga-Allen and C Izuchukwu for O’Connor (both 67 mins) L Marshall for Hume (77 mins) .
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
