Scarlets 22 Ulster 12

Ulster slumped to defeat at the Parc y Scarlets this afternoon in their first away trip of the 2015/ 16 campaign, paying the price for a succession of errors in a 22 - 12 reversal by Wayne Pivac's Scarlets. Although a fine Rory Scholes try and another outstanding display from Stuart McCloskey went some way to sparing the visitors' blushes, poor handling and a lack of cohesion frustrated Neil Doak's men particularly in the first half, and they failed to take advantage of thirty minutes' worth of numerical superiority as Scarlets had three men yellow-carded. With Andrew Trimble sidelined after picking up a hip flexor strain, Scholes made his first start of the season on the left wing, with Craig Gilroy switching to the right. Otherwise the backs lined up unchanged from the bonus-point victory over the Ospreys, with Louis Ludik at full-back, McCloskey and Luke Marshall providing the muscle in midfield, Peter Nelson continuing at out-half, and Paul Marshall at scrum-half. One change in the forwards saw Peter Browne win his first full cap in place of Dan Tuohy in the second row, packing down with Franco van der Merwe behind a front three of Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring and Wiehahn Herbst. The back row lined up with the triumvirate of flankers Roger Wilson and Willie Faloon either side of Nick Williams at Number Eight. Scarlets, hot on the heels of a victory away to reigning champions Glasgow Warriors in round one, dashed into an early lead courtesy of a third-minute penalty from Daniel Jones. Although Ulster bossed successive set pieces with van der Merwe dominant, only a last-gasp tackle from Scholes on Tom Williams prevented the winger from scoring by the flag on 14 minutes, the challenge just dragging him into touch before he grounded. Three more points soon followed from Jones' boot, and as Ulster failed to mount any significant offensive threat, a collapsed maul presented the out-half with a simple kick to extend the lead to nine points with 25 minutes played. McCloskey, so impressive against the Ospreys, drove Ulster's first meaningful foray into the Scarlets '22' just before the half-hour, and although the move broke down through an eventual Luke Marshall knock-on, a subsequent penalty to touch got Ulster back into the attack zone with a promising lineout. However another elementary error left Ulster red-faced, as this time a forward pass from Wilson as he sought to pick out Williams put paid to the move. Better news came for Ulster just before the break as Peter Edwards was sent to the sinbin for the Scarlets' second no-arms tackle in as many minutes, but McCloskey's errant penalty attempt brought a highly forgettable half for the visitors to a close. Half-Time Score Scarlets 9 Ulster 0 Perhaps over-keen to capitalise early on their numerical advantage, more mistakes from Ulster - a restart straight into touch from Nelson and an infringement from Browne as he went off his feet to retrieve possession - added to the visitors' frustration. An off-target penalty from Jones on 44 minutes proved only a temporary reprieve, as Hadleigh Parkes grounded moments later by the flag after Jones' long-range pass and Gareth Owen's quickfire layoff had eliminated half-a-dozen defenders. The conversion dispatched, Edwards retook the field with his side seven points better off than before his exile, but as Ulster finally looked to have found their rhythm, another exclusion - this time for captain John Barclay as he came in from the side - set the wheels in motion for Scholes' try on 55 minutes. Picking up from Paul Marshall off the scrum, the auburn-haired winger showed strength reminiscent of McCloskey in his opening-day try against the Ospreys to batter away four tackles and weave his way over to score. The wide conversion missed, and although Jones added a fourth penalty just after the hour, Ulster came close again moments later, Scholes pouncing on a high-ball ...