GLASGOW WARRIORS 30 ULSTER 7

Ulster’s Guinness Pro14 play-off aspirations were dealt a blow tonight at Scotstoun as a rampant Glasgow Warriors ran in four tries to a lone Rob Herring score on a night when very little went right for Dan McFarland’s side. A misfiring lineout and high penalty count – particularly a scrum-time – sealed Ulster’s fate, combined with two unfortunate near misses from Luke Marshall and Robert Lyttle, who both lost control of the ball when shaping to ground under pressure from the excellent Tommy Seymour. Ulster remain second in Conference B on 54 points for the time being, but with third-, fourth- and fifth-placed Benetton (50 points), Edinburgh (47) and Scarlets (45) all playing tomorrow, next Friday’s clash at Murrayfield now takes on even more importance. Tonight Marshall made his first start of the season after a try-scoring cameo role in last Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup clash with Leinster, while four more changes to the Ulster line-up brought in Lyttle on the wing, Herring at hooker, Alan O’Connor at lock and Sean Reidy at flanker for his 101^st cap. Otherwise the backs lined up with Michael Lowry again at full-back, Stuart McCloskey partnering Marshall in midfield, Jacob Stockdale on the left wing, and the half-back tandem of Billy Burns and John Cooney. In the pack Eric O’Sullivan and Marty Moore continued at prop, with last week’s other try-scorer Kieran Treadwell in the second row, and Jordi Murphy and Marcell Coetzee in the number seven and eight shirts respectively. An early steal by Coetzee sent Marshall and Herring bursting into the Glasgow ‘22’ in a dangerous move and, although Ulster initially lost the ball with a knock-on, the pace of their backs proved problematic for Glasgow once back in possession, and a high tackle on the quicksilver Lowry won them a well-placed penalty. The lineout executed to plan, Herring peeled off the maul quickly and barged his way through three tackles to ground his seventh try of the season – making him the province’s top try-scorer this term. Cooney converted, but Warriors soon found themselves in a similar position with O’Sullivan pulled up for holding on too long in the tackle after chasing down a long clearance from Stuart Hogg, and Herring’s opposite number Fraser Brown eventually rumbled over by means of a more conventional rolling maul. The conversion from Adam Hastings restored parity on 15 minutes, and three minutes later the out-half added a try to his tally, showing impressive strength to resist Cooney’s tackle and stretch over after quick hands from right to left from the Glasgow backs. After some unneighbourly fisticuffs between compatriots Coetzee and Oli Kebble went punished only by a stern talking-to from referee and fellow South African Stuart Berry, Hastings took full advantage of the stiff breeze in his side’s favour to knock over a long-range penalty just before the half-hour. With Angus Kernohan replacing Lowry – recipient of a knock early on that he was unable to shake off – Ulster were forced to redeploy Stockdale to full-back, and despite enjoying good possession in the latter stages of the first half, including two promising rolling mauls, it was the Warriors who closed out the period in the ascendancy, former Ulsterman Seymour touching down his side’s third score two minutes into overtime after 17 patient phases. Half-Time Score Glasgow Warriors 20 Ulster 7 With the wind at Ulster’s backs now, McCloskey put too much weight behind his first clearance which shot out of bounds and gifted Warriors the scrum, from which rapid recycling got Zander Fagerson over on 43 minutes for the bonus-point try. The Ulster response was spirited, Stockdale supplying Marshall four minutes later and the centre forcing his way to the line, only for Seymour’s last-gasp challenge to dislodge the ball as he went to ground in an incident painfully reminiscent of Stockdale’s own narrow miss last week against Leinster. A huge collision involving Coetzee, McCloskey and Hastings ended with the Ulster centre coming off worst with a bang to the head that saw him replaced by Darren Cave, before Hastings stretched the lead to 23 points on the hour courtesy of a penalty. Ten minutes from time, a fantastic effort from Lyttle once again ended in sheer frustration, the winger’s interception and run from half-way proving in vain as TMO reviews showed that Seymour once again had done just enough to prevent the try, his tackle just forcing the knock-on microseconds before the ball crossed the try-line. It was to prove Ulster’s last real chance of any consolation until the final minute, when a five-metre lineout petered out into nothing with another steal by Glasgow – the last of half-a-dozen surrendered lineouts. Despite tonight’s disappointment Ulster still have everything to play for in the final two matches of the season proper, but the task is a difficult one with qualification depending on the outcome of games against fellow play-off hopefuls Edinburgh and runaway Conference B leaders Leinster. Full-Time Score Glasgow Warriors 30 Ulster 7 Glasgow Warriors (15 – 9) Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Kyle Steyn, Sam Johnson, Nikola Matawalu; Adam Hastings, Ali Price (1 – 8) Oli Kebble, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Rob Harley, Jonny Gray, Adam Ashe, Chris Fusaro (c), Matt Fagerson Replacements (16 – 23) Grant Stewart, Jamie Bhatti, Siua Halanukonuka, Scott Cummings, David Tameilau, George Horne, Peter Horne, Robbie Nairn Ulster (15 – 9) Michael Lowry; Rob Lyttle, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, John Cooney (1 – 8) Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor (c), Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee Replacements (16 – 23) John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Tom O’Toole, Ian Nagle, Matthew Rea, David Shanahan, Darren Cave, Angus Kernohan