ULSTER 16 CARDIFF BLUES 12

Impeccable goal kicking from John Cooney and a well-taken Kieran Treadwell try were enough to seal a hard-fought victory over the Cardiff Blues this afternoon at the Kingspan Stadium, keeping the heat on second-placed Scarlets in the Conference B standings. The win sees Ulster level on 29 points with the Llanelli-based side, who face Glasgow Warriors later this evening at Scotstoun. While never scintillating during the encounter, Dan McFarland’s side did the basics well with a strong set piece and low penalty count, although Cardiff’s combative display made them good value for their losing bonus point. Rob Herring’s 150^th cap for the province marked his return from international duty along with the five other Ulstermen involved in Ireland’s unbeaten Autumn Series, with centre Stuart McCloskey, flanker Jordi Murphy and scrum-half Cooney all coming straight back into the first XV, while Rory Best and Jacob Stockdale started on the bench. The remainder of the backline featured Michael Lowry at full-back, Henry Speight and Louis Ludik on the wings, James Hume in midfield and Billy Burns at out-half. In the pack Andrew Warwick and Marty Moore were selected at prop either side of Herring, with captain Alan O’Connor and Treadwell again teaming in the second row, and a back row of Sean Reidy and Murphy alongside Number Eight Marcell Coetzee. Cooney blasted Ulster into the lead as early as the third minute, dispatching a central penalty without fuss, and while Blues retained the ball well from the restart, they failed to make real use of it and eventually knocked on under Burns’s tackle. Alert covering from Cooney then kept Harri Millard and Blaine Scully at bay as they chased the centre’s kick down the right wing, but quick hands from the resulting lineout saw full-back Matthew Morgan sneak in at the opposite corner flag for the try on 10 minutes, with a grounding that referee Stuart Berry was satisfied had not been lost forward. Ulster trailed for barely two minutes, a turnover on halfway and a quickly-taken tap penalty from McCloskey setting the cat amongst the pigeons in the Cardiff defence, and Treadwell showing great dexterity to cleanly pick up his own kick-on from the McCloskey pass and roll across the line at speed. Cooney’s conversion meant that Jarrod Evans’s conversion of the next Blues try, supplied by hooker Kristian Dacey on 20 minutes from a rolling maul, edged the visitors back into the lead. At this stage the Ulster performance turned decidedly flat for a good 15 minutes, the cause hindered further by the loss of O’Connor and Burns, to injury and a Head Injury Assessment respectively, just before half-time – the out-half the recipient of a hard hit from former Ulster fan favourite Nick Williams. Half-Time Score Ulster 10 Cardiff 12 With Ian Nagle and Johnny McPhillips now in the ranks Ulster soaked up some early second half pressure from the Blues, before further reinforcements arrived in the shape of Stockdale, on for Lowry on 45 minutes with Ludik switching to full-back. Once some amateur pugilism involving McCloskey, Stockdale, Nagle and several Blues players had dissipated with no further action taken by Mr Berry after TMO review, Best replaced Herring for the final half-hour, and Cardiff saw themselves reduced to 14 with a yellow for lock Seb Davies after a late hit on Ross Kane at rucktime. Cooney prudently went for the posts with a penalty just before the hour, and now with the lead – albeit slender – Ulster never looked back, first coming close on 63 minutes with Speight and Stockdale haring down on McPhillips’ kick to the corner which just eluded them both, before Cooney slotted another penalty four minutes later. Cardiff piled forward from the restart, putting their all into the final 10 minutes, but their over-urgency cost them with the concession of penalties at two crucial moments, the second calling time on the game with the clock just into the red. The Guinness Pro14 now takes a two-week break to accommodate back-to-back away and home Heineken Cup clashes against the Scarlets on 7^th and 14^th December. Full-Time Score Ulster 16 Cardiff Blues 12 Ulster (15 – 9) Michael Lowry; Henry Speight, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Louis Ludik; Billy Burns, John Cooney (1 – 8) Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor (c), Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee Replacements (16 – 23) Rory Best, Eric O’Sullivan, Ross Kane, Ian Nagle, Nick TImoney, David Shanahan, Johnny McPhillips, Jacob Stockdale Cardiff Blues (15 – 9) Matthew Morgan; Blaine Scully, Harri Millard, Rey Lee-Lo, Jason Harries; Jarrod Evans, Lloyd Williams (c) (1 – 8) Rhys Gill, Kristian Dacey, Scott Andrews, Seb Davies, Josh Turnbull, Samu Manoa, Olly Robinson, Nick Williams Replacements (16 – 23) Liam Belcher, Rhys Carre, Dillon Lewis, George Earle, James Down, Tomos Williams, Steve Shingler, Garyn Smith Match report by Neil Carnduff