Match Report: Edinburgh Rugby 3-9 Ulster Rugby

[ADM]

[tag=image]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... y_logo.jpg[/tag][tag=content]Ulster battled through atrocious conditions at Murrayfield to eventually emerge as 9-3 victors over Edinburgh and move up to second in the Pro12, albeit temporarily.

In a drab match, three penalties from Paddy Jackson were enough to cancel out Carl Bezuidenhout’s early effort and lift Ulster above provincial rivals Munster in the league table.

It wasn’t a vintage performance from Ulster by any stretch of the imagination but it was enough to see off a stubborn Edinburgh outfit who could not force their way over in the dying seconds in their final game at Murrayfield before the surface is replaced.

Edinburgh came straight out of the blocks and were close to getting a try within the first few moments only for returning Scottish winger Dougie Fife to be bundled into touch metres from the try line.

Nevertheless, up stepped South African fly-half Carl Bezuidenhout to land Edinburgh’s first and only penalty of the evening in the twelfth minute and give them a 3-0 lead.

Already it looked like the home side were in the ascendancy and their job was made slightly easier when Ulster second row Iain Henderson was sin-binned in the seventeenth minute.

The Irish international lock was adjudged by referee John Lacey to have made a tip tackle and was dismissed for ten minutes with replays showing that he was maybe lucky to get away with just a yellow.

However the Scots could not make their man advantage pay and it was Ulster who levelled the scores at 3-3 in the twenty-third minute through a Paddy Jackson penalty, the only score in the sin-bin period.

Despite the visitors not having much of the ball they managed to go into the lead for the first time in the game with five minutes remaining in the half through a second Jackson penalty following an Edinburgh scrum infringement.

Edinburgh were finding themselves on the wrong side of referee Lacey on a frequent basis and Jackson had a chance to extend Ulster’s lead with three minutes to go in the half but he missed and Ulster led 6-3 at half-time.

The rain eased as the second half began and it took Jackson five minutes to take the score to 9-3 with his third penalty of the night after Edinburgh were penalised again at the scrum.

That would prove to be the final score of the game as the terrible conditions resulted in plenty of handling errors from both sides which limited the game considerably with both teams unable to string many phases together.

Edinburgh particularly were finding it hard to get any possession due to their high penalty count and the second half was effectively the opposite of the first with Ulster dominating in both possession and territory.

Ulster were holding onto their lead well, using their forward dominance to stay in the Edinburgh 22, yet they were unable to get the telling score that would push the lead beyond six and converted try range.

Paddy Jackson attempted a late drop goal eight minutes from time to try and hand Ulster the win, but his effort sailed wide of the uprights and Ulster faced a battle to hold onto their lead.

In the final few minutes it was Edinburgh who attacked the Ulster line in a desperate attempt to steal the win at the death but the Ulster defence was resilient as it had been all night and managed to keep out the home side and hand Ulster their eighth straight win of 2014.

The scorers

For Edinburgh
Pen: Bezuidenhout

For Ulster
Pens: Jackson (3)

EDINBURGH RUGBY
(15-9) Jack Cuthbert, Dougie Fife (Nick de Luca 40), Sam Beard (Sean Kennedy 75), Andries Strauss, Tom Brown (Harry Leonard 67), Carl Bezuidenhout, Grayson Hart; (1-8) Wiccus Blaauw, Ross Ford, Willem Nel (Ewan McQuillin 74), Grant Gilchrist, Izak van der Westhuizen, Mike Coman (Tomas Leonardi 53), Roddy Grant, Cornell du Preez.

Subs not used: James Hilterbrand, Alex Allan, Ollie Atkins.

ULSTER RUGBY
(15-9) Jared Payne, Tommy Bowe, Darren Cave, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy, Paddy Jackson, Michael Heaney (Paul Marshall 60); (1-8) Tom Court, Rob Herring, John Afoa (Ricky Lutton 75), Johann Muller, Iain Henderson, Stephen Ferris (Robbie Diack 40), Sean Doyle (Dan Tuohy 60), Roger Wilson (Nick Williams 53).

Subs not used: Niall Annett, Andrew Warwick, Stuart McCloskey.
Yellow card: Henderson (17)

Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)[/tag]

[BaggyTrousers]

Commendable report ADM it reminded me of the comments Angus Loughran used to provide for "Eurogoals" clearly recorded from his bedroom!!!!