EDINBURGH 7 ULSTER 29

A colossal performance at BT Murrayfield tonight guaranteed Ulster a home tie in the Guinness Pro14 play-offs, with the bonus-point win and a nine-point defeat for Benetton against Munster leaving Dan McFarland’s side in the clear at second in Conference B. With 59 points now under their belts, Ulster will not be caught by the Italians or tonight’s opponents regardless of how the final round of fixtures plays out in two weeks’ time, setting up a quarter-final at the Kingspan Stadium on the weekend of 3^rd-4^th May against the eventual third-placed team in Conference A – either Connacht, Ospreys or Cardiff Blues. First-half tries from Jordi Murphy and Robert Baloucoune set Ulster on their way before scores for Robert Lyttle and Billy Burns sealed the bonus point in a display that was poles apart from last Friday’s disappointment in Glasgow. Lock Iain Henderson, flanker Nick Timoney and winger Baloucoune were the only personnel changes implemented from the XV that started at Scotstoun, with a further positional switch moving Jacob Stockdale to full-back in the absence of the injured Michael Lowry. The remainder of the backline saw Luke Marshall and Stuart McCloskey retained at centre, Lyttle on the left wing, and the tandem of Burns and John Cooney in the half-back slots. An unchanged front row of Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring and Marty Moore lined up in front of captain Henderson and fellow lock Kieran Treadwell, with Murphy and Number Eight Marcell Coetzee teaming with Timoney in the back row. With Edinburgh pulled up twice by referee Nigel Owens within the first three minutes for not releasing then not rolling away, Cooney clipped over the second penalty from 30 metres to establish an early lead. Ulster threatened again from the restart but hesitancy at the ruck allowed Edinburgh to steal, and the visitors soon lost Moore to an ankle injury, replaced by Ross Kane. However aggressive chasing from Stockdale and Baloucoune put Edinburgh straight back under pressure on 11 minutes and, when Grant Gilchrist ripped the ball backwards in a tackle on Timoney five metres out, Murphy took advantage of the absence of an offside line for an alert touchdown. Cooney converted for a 10-point lead, which should have been cut down to seven through a Jaco van der Walt penalty in the dying seconds of the first quarter, only for the kick to rebound off an upright and back into play. Ulster continued to defend with energy as Edinburgh came again, the Scots not helping their cause when a subsequent van der Walt penalty failed to find touch. Back on the ball on 27 minutes, Ulster made good ground courtesy of a neat offload from Stockdale to Herring as the full-back was taken down in the tackle, but after three minutes of phases WP Nel was the home hero with a crucial turnover on Treadwell on the Edinburgh five-metre line. But another missed touch from van der Walt put his side straight back under the cosh, and quick feet from Cooney almost got Baloucone in at the corner, his pass veering just behind the onrushing wing who, had he collected, would surely have scored. While Ulster had to this stage enjoyed by far the better territory and possession, the wastefulness of their two near misses suggested cause for concern until a moment of brilliance from Baloucoune gave them the 15-point half-time lead their performance deserved. From a sharp Burns pass, electric feet from the youngster left full-back Darcy Graham for dead, and a combination of pace and power took the winger over in the corner before the Edinburgh chasers could force him into touch. Half-Time Score Edinburgh 0 Ulster 15 Ulster repelled persistent pressure from Edinburgh from the restart for a good 10 minutes until a marginal knock-on from Gilchrist bought them some breathing space, and Lyttle took full advantage moments later when he picked up from Stockdale and eluded Mark Bennett’s challenge before showing great strength to propel himself over the line with three Edinburgh players trying to drag him down. Cooney’s conversion put Ulster 22 points to the good, reduced to 15 on 57 minutes when replacement flanker John Barclay ghosted past Marshall and to the line for his side’s first points, topped up by Simon Hickey’s conversion. Lyttle continued to torment the Scots, both on his wing and down the middle as the clock edged past 70 minutes, before a knock-on-inducing tackle from Marshall on Graham five minutes from time effectively put paid to any slim hopes of an Edinburgh comeback. Back in possession, Ulster mauled their way upfield before a show-and-go from Burns sealed the bonus point – and the out-half’s first try in Ulster colours. The season proper comes to an end in two weeks’ time with an interpro clash in Belfast with Leinster, before the knock-out stages begin a week later. Full-Time Score Edinburgh 7 Ulster 29 Edinburgh (15 – 9) Darcy Graham; Damien Hoyland, Mark Bennett, Matt Scott, Duhan van der Merwe; Jaco van der Walt, Henry Pyrgos (1 – 8) Pierre Schoeman, Stuart McInally (c), WP Neil, Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist, Magnus Bradbury, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata Replacements (16 – 23) Ross Ford, Allan Dell, Simon Berghan, Callum Hunter-Hill, John Barclay, Charlie Shiel, Simon Hickey, George Taylor Ulster (15 – 9) Jacob Stockdale; Robert Baloucoune, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Robert Lyttle; Billy Burns, John Cooney (1 – 8) Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Iain Henderson (c), Kieran Treadwell, Nick Timoney, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee Replacements (16 – 23) John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Ross Kane, Alan O’Connor, Sean Reidy, David Shanahan, Peter Nelson, Angus Kernohan