Match Reports

Report | Ulster 48 Cardiff Rugby 12

4th March 2022
A dominant performance saw Ulster brush Cardiff Rugby aside in a seven-try rout at Kingspan Stadium on Friday evening.

The visitors had the lion’s share of the territory in the opening few minutes, but a couple of handling errors gave Ulster the scrum inside their half. They got the ensuing scrum penalty for Billy Burns to kick to touch and enter the Cardiff half.

Billy Burns showed great vision to make a cross-field kick with Robert Baloucoune waiting in the wings to collect the ball on the tricky bounce and dance through for Ulster’s first try. Nathan Doak landed the conversion.

Cardiff went down to 14 when Willis Halaholo was sin-binned for tackling while off his feet, and Nathan Doak stepped up to oblige for the penalty to put Ulster 10-up.

Cardiff looked to respond and were in a dangerous area of the field when James Hume sniffed out the intercept from Jarrod Evans’ pass to run in from his own 22-metre line, and Doak made no mistake with the conversion.

The men in blue had an opportunity around the half-hour mark with a five-metre line-out but a knock-on in making the transfer in the maul got Ulster out of jail for the time being. Cardiff pressed again and showed quick hands to force Ulster towards their own line. Eventually, Cardiff got the penalty for off-side. They opted for the tap-and-go, but another handling error gave Ulster the scrum.

The Ulster men claimed their third try at the stroke of half-time, when Nick Timoney made a devastating run only to be tackled short – Ulster recycled and Stuart McCloskey picked up to muscle over from the back of the ruck. Doak’s conversion attempt rattled off the upright.

The visitors finally registered on the board on 45 minutes after a break by Ray Lee-Lo. They moved the ball wide and hooker Kirby Myhill bundled over for their first try. Evans couldn’t land the conversion.

Ulster immediately replied through Nick Timoney breaking the tackle to rumble over to the left of the posts for the bonus-point try. Nathan Doak nudged over the extras.

Just four minutes later, Stewart Moore sent Robert Baloucoune tearing down the right wing to dot down in the corner for his second. John Cooney took over the kicking duties and nailed the conversion.

Ulster were motoring, and it wasn’t long until they claimed their sixth score, going through the hands to send speedster Aaron Sexton through for his first Senior Ulster try.

It was a night of firsts as just seven minutes later, Tom Stewart claimed his first Senior Ulster try off the back of a rolling Ulster maul, and John Cooney notched up the two to bring Ulster closer to the half-century.

Cardiff snuck a second consolation try five minutes from the end through James Ratti and Ben Thomas made the conversion. Ulster had a James Hume score chalked off in the 80th minute as Ben Moxham’s offload to John Cooney was deemed to be forward, but Ulster had done more than enough to get the full five points.

Full-time score: Ulster 48 Cardiff Rugby 12

Worth Another Look

Player of the Match

Scorers

Ulster

Tries: Robert Baloucoune (2), James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Nick Timoney, Aaron Sexton, Tom Stewart

Cons: Nathan Doak (3), John Cooney (2)

Pens: Nathan Doak

Cardiff

Tries: Kirby Myhill, James Ratti

Cons: Ben Thomas

Line-ups

Ulster

(15-9) Stewart Moore Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Ben Moxham, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak;

(1-8) Jack McGrath, John Andrew, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson (Capt.), Jordi Murphy, Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney.

Replacements: Tom Stewart, Callum Reid, Gareth Milasinovich, Sam Carter, Duane Vermeulen, John Cooney, Ian Madigan, Aaron Sexton.

Cardiff

(15-9) Hallam Amos; Owen Lane, Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Aled Summerhill; Jarrod Evans, Lloyd Williams;

(1-8) Brad Thyer, Kirby Myhill, Dmitri Arhip, Josh Turnbull (Capt.), Matthew Screech, Ellis Jenkins, Josh Navidi, James Botham

Replacements: Keiron Assiratti, Rhys Carré, Will Davies-King, Teddy Williams, James Ratti, Jamie Hill, Ben Thomas, Matthew Morgan

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Up next at Kingspan Stadium

Ulster will face Leinster in their re-scheduled Round 9 Inter-Pro on Saturday 12 March (7.35pm kick-off).

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