Ulster achieved a crucial victory, securing five vital points in their quest for a URC play-off place, despite early difficulties against the Scarlets. Tries in the second half from Stuart McCloskey, Nick Timoney, David McCann and Jacob Stockdale secured triumvirate of successive wins for Richie Murphy’s team. Their turning point came partly due to two quick successive yellow cards presented to the opposing team, leading to a reduction to just 13 players.
Despite an initially lacklustre first half and trailing 6-3 at the break, Ulster managed to score 14 points without response thanks to the Scarlets being downplayers, Taine Plumtree and Gareth Davies.
Scarlets began strongly with Sam Costelow scoring a 10th-minute penalty kick. The northern side appeared sluggish initially, with Billy Burns even missing a penalty shot to the corner. Eventually, John Cooney reignited Ulster’s fighting spirit with a 27th-minute penalty kick. However, they were unable to take full advantage of the two yellow cards handed to Scarlets right before the break.
Following a deliberate ball slap out of Cooney’s hold, Plumtree was the first to be shown the yellow card. The Scarlets then, despite being two players short, were able to prevent a try attempt by Ulster’s Cormac Izuchukwu. Just before the halftime whistle, a misplaced kick by McCann resulted in a potential try being squandered.
The Scarlets were further handicapped by a yellow card shown to Davies by referee Gianluca Gnecchi for tripping Eric O’Sullivan, dwindling their team strength to just 13 players as the game entered injury time.
Ulster aimed for the line off a lineout maul, but three unsuccessful attempts by Izuchukwu to ground the ball left the Scarlets in a 6-3 lead at the end of the first half. Despite Ulster messing up another opportunity from a breakout, they were playing against 13 men, hence a try seemed unavoidable. At two minutes into the new half, McCloskey stormed through under the posts for the game’s initial five-pointer, with Cooney making the conversion to place Ulster in the lead for the first time.
Their lead grew after a five-metre scrum, as Timoney snagged his 12th season try and an additional conversion from Cooney secured a 17-6 lead for Ulster. Seemingly in command and reinvigorated, Ulster achieved the third try at 54 minutes, McCann punching his way through after the forwards effort to the line. Cooney’s conversion extended their advantage to 24-6.
Ulster, as is their habit, enabled Scarlets to claw back into the game when Tuipulotu’s converted chase narrowed their lead to 11 points one hour into the game. As happened previously, Scarlets’ lack of discipline proved costly. Stockdale was fouled and from the subsequent corner penalty, the Ulster team strategically wore down the defence of the Welsh group with some strong and direct carries. This set the stage for Burns’ expansive pass to Stockdale, which secured a crucial bonus point try, followed by a Cooney conversion.
Having a 31-13 lead, Ulster’s defence was found wanting when Tomi Lewis blazed clear, and Costelow again narrowed the gap to 11 points, which remained as is. The Scarlets’ team featured I Nicholas; T Lewis, J Williams, E James, R Conbeer; S Costelow, G Davies; K Mathias, R Elias (capt), H O’Connor; M Jones, J Price; T Plumtree, D Davis, C Tuipulotu. Replacements included: S Evans, W Jones, S Wainwright, J Taylor, B Williams, K Hardy, I Lloyd, S Williams, D Davis.
Ulster’s line-up included M Lowry, E McIlroy, W Addison, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; with B Burns, J Cooney in addition to E O’Sullivan, R Herring, and S Wilson. The team also comprised K Treadwell, captain A O’Connor, C Izuchukwu, D McCann, and N Timoney. During the game, T Plumtree and G Davies respectively received yellow cards at 37 and 42 minutes. Some player replacements occurred: T Stewart replaced Herring after 70 minutes, A Warwick took over from French after 65 minutes, J French came in for Wilson at 20 minutes into the game. Elsewhere, H Sheridan replaced Treadwell at 58 minutes, R Crothers took Timoney’s place at 58 minutes, N Doak was subbed in for Cooney at 70 minutes, S Moore took over from McCloskey around the 65th minute, and D Ewers replaced Izuchukwu after 58 minutes. Refereeing the game was G Gnecchi from Italy.