30 - 23

Attendance:7,467
Friday 16/09/05
Ravenhill
KO 19.30

Ulster: (6) 30: Tries: Bowe, Trimble Cons: Humphries Pen: Humphries 6

Gunners: (13) 23: Tries: Leonelli, Dewey Cons: Patterson 2 Pens: Patterson 2 DG: Patterson.

In the city of blinding lights

The Gunners and their fans went home with a bonus point to night courtesy of Ulster and to be honest I am not sure if they deserved it. They played well but nobody likes a sore loser as was shown by the stamping on 2 prostrate Ulster players late in the game in separate but related incidents. The referee and sloppy Ulster play notably by the normally reliable Roger Wilson allowed the Gunners to work themselves into a game they should have been thrown out of 20 minutes before the end. Ulster for the second time in as many weeks did just enough to win keeping us on the edge of our seats on both occasions only this time it was against a much better and highly committed Gunners team.

Gunners started off brightly being quickly 6 points up, thanks to the reliant boot of Duncan Hodge and Ulster were lucky not to find themselves much further adrift. But for heroic defensive work by McMillan especially, a whole bunch of Ulster players answered the call to arms and defended their trench with all the tenacity of a pit bull terrier. Gunners have reason to feel aggrieved for all their hard work only produced 2 shots at goal while Humphries slotted one for the home side and hit the post with another. It was during this period that we had the first sight of a series of bizarre decisions. Gunners clearly knocked on close to the Ulster line only for the touch judge to keep his arms pinned by his side, as the referee was unsighted. The large crowd on the promenade and the stand gave him so much encouragement that after a good 10 or so seconds he decided to put his flag in the air to indicate the error. Once the opening period had passed Ulster came into the game more and more with Trimble, as Mark McCall promised popping up all over the pace and whose electric running was causing the Gunners defence the odd headache or two. It was on one foray that only very sharp cover defence prevented Paul Steinmetz from crossing. Kiernan Campbell also impressed with another of his trademark searing breaks only to be stopped by his throat engaging the arm of a Gunners player. No penalty. Then it happed; the first sighting of the great Ulster Malaise. Poor defending at the loose deep in the Gunners half and another visitor makes his name at our expense and wallop 7 points. It was looking bleak and lesser teams have folded for less but not these boys. Carefully orchestrated by the magnificent David Humphries Ulster went back up the pitch and earned a converted shot at goal going in at half time the worse at 13: 6 and very unlucky.

It had been a decent half bar the first15 minutes or so. The big lad form down under was getting no protection from the referee as Gunners were climbing all over him blatantly pushing him in the line as the ball was thrown. Again no penalty. The Gunners were edging the set piece battle with Ulster struggling no more so than in the lineout where the big 4 Scottish forwards crowded McCullough out before Ulster realised Wilson at the back was free and started to use him more to secure ball. The scum had been under surprising pressure but despite all of this the general Ulster play had been impressive in the loose with Humphries applying the pressure and rucking like a traditional open side. Well done David. The ferocity of the pack was more than cancelling out the Gunners eight and we all looked forward to the second with a little excitement.

The second started poorly for Ulster before Tommy Bowe, a keen disciple of Neil Kelly, intercepted and ran half the length of the pitch and looked every bit the international player for a 7 pointer and it was game on. The Ulster defence once again turned attack to their advantage in this rollercoaster game. It was great work up by the defensive line and then superb anticipation from Tommy Bowe ensured Ulster were on a pa,r and it was thoroughly deserved as the roof lifted of the stand. Soon though, Ulster gifted the Gunners a penalty before the move of the night saw Andrew Trimble show the world what a wonderfully gifted footballer he is. In the eye of a needle he twinkled his way down the line in no space at all, dancing on hot coals his little feet never seemed to touch the ground. It was the most impressive piece of wing play seen at Ravenhill for many a long day. At this point it should have been lights out as Ulster were rampant marauding and harassing the Gunners putting them under obscene pressure that they could not deal with. It was vintage stuff with no one outstanding just the team of Ulster excelling. Humphries missed the conversion but kicked a penalty shortly after which was scant reward for the display that we were pleasured with.

Then the second appearance of the great Ulster Malaise silenced the crowd as asked a lot of questions of the home side. Roger Wilson gathered a loose ball on his own and indecisively waddled into the arms of a grateful Gunner tackler and Roger then passed to the supporting Gunners player and in the resulting move Gunners scored a well worked converted try to put them back in the lead 23:21. But the story was far from over. Ulster then showed the character of champions and took the game by the scruff of the neck and the redoubtable Humphries kicked another 3 penalties. But not before the odd flutter of hearts and a few close scrapes from a determined Edinburgh. Late on Ulster were penalised for bringing down a maul as the Ulster player was knocked over by its speedy advance and in the ensuing drive 2 Ulster players went to ground and were stamped on by the advancing forward drive in full view of the referee. But it was only a precursor to the move that summed the night up. From a determined desperate and sustained final assault on the Ulster line the home pack took the tiring maul and shoved it 30 meters up the pitch and save the day win the game and receive the accolades of the 8000 crowd that had turned up. Cue the final strange incident. In the last maul an Ulster player knocked on for the referee to award a scrum to Edinburgh only for the large partisan crowd to remind him that he was well into injury time. He awarded the scrum looked at the menacing faces and blew time.

This was more like it. The excitement and the tension was as good as any European cup game. Yes, even as good as the best of them against Stade and against Gloucester. In the city of blinding lights Ulster and Edinburgh hit each other like two brick walls to produce the best game in the Celtic League this season by far. The season may be young and some of the rugby may be a bit raw but there is no doubting that both of these teams will do well by delivering an exciting and passionate brand of rugby that was of a good standard giving the paying masses great value. In my mind Ulster were streets ahead but for their habitual Malaise but write off Edinburgh at your peril as their determination and endeavour was a credit to them. To be fair to the Gunners, had Duncan Hodge not kicked so much and kicked his penalties to touch as opposed to goal it could have been different. Indeed they looked a far better side when he was replaced and they ran the ball in the second half as they possessed game breakers in the centre and Scott Murray looked dangerous with ball in hand driving forward. It was good to see Matt Mustchin put in his honest performance doing sterling work in the backrow for the Gunners. But you gotta Stand Up For The Ulstermen as the boys are back in town. Ulster win by 30:23 and we are in business!!.

ULSTER: 15 - Paddy Wallace; 14 - Tommy Bowe; 13 - Kevin Maggs; 12 - Paul Steinmetz; 11 - Andrew Trimble; 10 - David Humphreys; 9 - Kieran Campbell; 1 - Justin Fitzpatrick; 2 - Paul Shields; 3 - Simon Best (Captain); 4 - Justin Harrison; 5 - Matt McCullough; 6 - Neil Best; 7 - Neil McMillan; 8 - Roger Wilson

Replacements: 16 - Rory Best; 17 - Bryan Young; 18 - Rowan Frost; 19 - Campbell Feather; 20 - Reece Spee; 21 - Adam Larkin; 22 - James Topping

Edinburgh: F Leonelli, C Paterson (capt), M Di Rollo, R Dewey, S Webster, D Hodge, M Blair, D Hewett, D Hall, C Smith, A Kellock, S Murray, M Mustchin, A Hogg, S Cross.

Replacements: A Kelly, A Jacobsen, F Pringle, A Strokosch, R Lawson, P Godman, H Southwell.

Referee: Phil Fear (WRU) Touch Judges: John Carvill (IRFU), Andrew Baird (IRFU).