Normal service resumed at last

After the disappointment of the defeat to Leinster in Lansdowne road Ulster really needed to secure a win to keep their Magner’s League campaign on track. Losses by Munster and Llanelli on Friday evening provided a bit of relief but with 2nd Place Leinster due to take on the Ospreys in Donnybrook on Saturday evening anything less that a win was likely to hand the top spot to the Dubliners.

Glasgow kicked off and immediately the game turned into one of aerial ping-pong with neither side able to find touch. A series of four or five kicks failed to reach the intended target with the ball finally going out for an Ulster Line-out on their 5m line. A scrappy first throw over the tail was tidied up by Roger Wilson. All the pressure for the first few minutes was coming from Glasgow and Ulster were looking more than a little shaky.

A heavy tackle on Hugo left him struggling to carry on and after around five minutes he was off and replaced by Naz. Another poor throw from Rory was stolen by Glasgow and they burst through only to be halted by a superb tackle by Kieran Dawson.

A charged down clearance kick from Paddy Wallace and everything seemed to be going against Ulster but Glasgow were unable to collect the ball and knocked forward to let Ulster off the hook.

Against the run of play a superb break by Tommy Bowe from inside the Ulster half was taken on by Paddy Wallace who looked likely to go all the way only to be tackled a few metres short, but he kept his cool and offloaded as he hit the ground to Rory best who went over under the posts for Ulster’s first score duly converted by Paddy to make the score 0-7 after around 20 minutes.

The score seemed to settle Ulster and after this the team seemed to grow in composure. Rory Best is now playing a blinder as he lines up the Glasgow hooker and puts in a huge hit to give him the message. The forwards start to work together better as a unit epitomised by a great forward drive into the Glasgow 22 which was spoiled only by not releasing the ball when they were brought down.

Even Maggsy is having a great game as one of his trademark crash ball moves bursts through the Glasgow defence and leaves him isolated and giving away a penalty for holing on. Glasgow on the other hand are really struggling with their set pieces. Throw-ins not straight, driven off their own scrum,

A superb break from Trimble Bart and Tommy Bowe seemed certain to lead to another try but they were brought to ground and penalised for not releasing. This was the back-line that has been missing for the past few matches, actually penetrating over the gain line and stretching the opposition defence to breaking point. But Glasgow weren’t out of it yet. A great touch-kick from the penalty set up a lineout deep in the Ulster 22, Glasgow pressured the Ulster line and seemed certain to score a try until a dummied pick-up at the back of a ruck gave Ulster a relieving penalty and a chance to clear their lines.
Another shaky Glasgow line-out deep in the Ulster 22 and again the Ulster backs broke out working nicely together and whipping the ball left and right with Tommy looking certain to score in the right hand corner only to be called back for a forward pass.

Glasgow really seemed to be struggling to come to terms with the new scrum laws with repeated free-kicks going Ulster’s way and the first half finished with score Glasgow 0 – Ulster 7.

After the break Glasgow came out again with renewed purpose and again seemed ready to put pressure on Ulster. Early in the half Ulster were penalised for coming in from the side and Dan Parks slotted an east penalty from under the posts. But Ulster too were full of purpose. Another Glasgow penalty for holding on and Paddy punted to the corner. With the pack growing in confidence they opted for a catch and drive and easily work their way over for Neil Best top touch down near the left corner. Paddy missed the conversion but t hardly seemed to matter as Ulster were in the ascendancy.

Next came probably the best move of the night. New-boy McKenzie fielded a Glasgow kick deep inside the Ulster half. He made a superb break up field and passed to Paddy who broke through the Glasgow defence drew the tackle and off-loaded to Bart who in turn drew the final covering tackler and off-loaded to Tommy Bowe who went over and dotted down close to the posts for a n east 7-pointer.

Ulster now seemed to have the game sewn up and it was now a question of 4 points or 5 as they continued to look for their fourth try, but it was to be Glasgow who would score next a dreadful mix-up in defence letting Newman over the line for a 5 pointer, buit the conversion is missed.

That was to be the last meaningful moment of the game with Ulster continuing to press but failing to turn opportunities into points.

Overall. This was a pleasing return to form. The Pack fronted up against a Glasgow team that had won their last 6 home games and maintained good forward momentum throughout. Ulster’s line-out had its shaky moments but overall performed OK. The Ulster Scrum adapted well to the new Scrum laws and it was Glasgow who lost that battle particularly Tkachuk who failed to demonstrate the “touch” and was repeatedly called to book for it.

Ulster’s backs performed excellently. Paddy showed some superb skills at Out-half and if he can keep it up we needn’t worry too much about Humph’s injury. It was great to see Trimby back in the centre getting far more ball and making some scything runs with it. Bart put in a solid performance at FB as did Naz at SH. Tommy Bowe seems to be back to his old form and Paul McKenzie slotted into the left-winger’s slot like a natural.

Ulster are Guaranteed to keep their top spot in the Magner’s League and we look forward to the League resuming after the completion of the HEC group stages.

Glasgow Warriors: C Gregor; R Lamont, H O'Hare, A Henderson, T Evans; D Parks, G Beveridge; J Va'a, F Thomson, E Murray; D Turner, A Kellock (capt); A Wilson, J Barclay, J Beattie.
Replacements: E Milligan, K Tkachuk, A Newman, J Eddie, S Swindall, S Pinder, S Barrow.

Ulster: M Bartholomeusz; T Bowe, A Trimble, K Maggs, P McKenzie; P Wallace, I Boss; B Young, R Best, S Best; J Harrison, M McCullough; N Best, K Dawson, R Wilson.
Replacements: P Shields; J Fitzpatrick, T Barker, N McMillan, K Campbell, A Larkin, P Steinmetz.

Referee: James Jones (WRU). Touch Judges: Peter Allan (SRU), Peter Carruthers (SRU)