Ulster lose their momentum

Ulster failed to build on their away win last week at Thomond, as they went down to Edinburgh in a scrappy affair at Murrayfield.

Edinburgh played the better rugby in a game that initially seemed like Ulster might do well in. Edinburgh though, quickly proved that they weren't intimidated by Ulster's previous form and Phil Godman punished early indiscipline by Ulster putting them 3 points ahead before two minutes were on the clock.

Ulster tried to get back into the game, but soon Edinburgh's running rugby put them back into their own half. The first try came after Andrew Turnbull made a long run, deep into Ulster's half, Edinburgh setting up the ruck and moving the ball wide across the other side of the pitch, Webster, Hogg and finally Southwell working together to finally score in the corner as Ulster didnt't have the defense to stop the overlap.

Godman again converted, and although Ian Humphreys managed to get a penalty in this period, Phil Godman got one back to restore the 10 point lead.

Not long after Mark mcCrean went back for a high ball, making a serious mistake in letting the ball bounce. He slipped and tried to recover as Grant caught the ball and ran for the line. he was stopped and from the resulting ruck, Hamilton easily used the open space on the blindside to score.

Ulster looked in bad shape, bereft of ideas, and a shadow of the team that last week beat the European champions.

By half-time, although Ulster tried a few running lines most notably from Paddy Wallace, plenty of phases but then back to aimless kicking, the only shining light was Ian Humphreys who kept Ulster in with a chance kicking another two penalties helping them to limp in at 18 - 9.

The second half saw a more urgent Ulster using the ball more and playing it through the hand, attcking the Edinburgh lines, but falling foul of little errors and poor decision making by the ref.

Better handling, and build up of phases put Ulster within kicking distance as Humphreys penalised a foul by Hamilton, and Trimble coming close to scoring after a break from Wallace. Now injured, Wallace had another long distance kick at goal which fell short, and just before the end he managed to scorehelping Ulster to a losing bonus on the night.

In a game where the ref made as many errors as the players, Ulster had no-one to blame but themseles for losing as they never managed to cross the line, while Edinburgh ran in two trys.

from The Belfast Telegraph

Ulster lock Matt McCullough was bitterly disappointment with his side’s performance as they went down by six points at Edinburgh in the Magners League.

Ulster were hoping to build on last week’s bonus point victory in Munster but failed to recapture that form as they were outscored by two tries to none.

“We weren’t at the races for the first 20 minutes and gave Edinburgh a 15-point start before any of us had made an impact,” stated McCullough.

“It was a very poor performance especially after Limerick where we had reached an acceptable performance.

“This is a step backwards when we wanted to take another step forward.

“We weren’t surprised by anything that Edinburgh did, we have to be honest with ourselves as players and hold our hands up and say that wasn’t good enough.

“As a squad we were on a high and done something great last week, but we didn’t channel that renewed energy into our performance.”

“The great teams win week in and week out so we have to look at ourselves within the squad and use these performances as a tool to become a better team.”

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Edinburgh: Hugo Southwell, Andrew Turnbull, Ben Cairns, John Houston, Simon Webster, Phil Godman, Mike Blair (capt); Allan Jacobsen; Ross Ford; Geoff Cross; Craig Hamilton, Jim Hamilton, Simon Cross, Roddy Grant, Allister Hogg.

Replacements: Andrew Kelly, Gavin Kerr, Ben Gissing, Scott Newlands, Greig Laidlaw, David Blair, Nick De Luca.

Ulster: Clinton Schifcofske; Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Paddy Wallace, Mark McCrea, Ian Humphreys, Isaac Boss; Tom Court, Rory Best (capt), BJ Botha, Ed O'Donoghue, Matt McCullough, Stephen Ferris, David Pollock, Rob Diack.

Replacements: Nigel Brady, Justin Fitpzatrick, Filo Paulo, Kieron Dawson, Paul Marshall, Paul Steinmetz, Bryn Cunningham.