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Alan Solomons’ team failed to establish any real foothold in the match, while Ulster grew in confidence as the game progressed, with second-half tries from Nick Williams and Rory Best bookended by Trimble’s 17th- and 77th-minute scores. Perhaps most impressive of all, however, was another powerhouse display from the emerging Stuart McCloskey at inside centre, once again emphasizing Ulster’s midfield strength in depth.
Competitive debuts for recently-signed prop Ruaidhri Murphy and Academy second row Alan O’Connor were among 10 personnel changes implemented after last Saturday’s defeat in Parma, with Best and tighthead Wiehahn Herbst reinstated alongside Murphy in the front row. O’Connor partnered up with Franco van der Merwe in front of a back row composed of the returning Robbie Diack and Chris Henry, either side of Roger Wilson.
Jared Payne’s recovery from injury saw him team with McCloskey, retained in the centre after his powerful display against Zebre, while Louis Ludik, Trimble and Paul Marshall all returned to the backline at full-back, wing and scrum-half respectively. Tommy Bowe and Paddy Jackson completed the line-up, with Bowe switching to the left wing after starting on the right against Zebre.
After a stuttering start, the game exploded into life on 10 minutes when good work from O’Connor with stolen Edinburgh lineout ball put Ulster in command in the visitors’ ‘22’, only for Ludik to knock on Payne’s pass five metres from home. Ulster were soon on the scoresheet, however, as Jackson kicked over his first penalty of the encounter with prop John Andress infringing at the scrum.
Jack Cuthbert had the chance to restore parity on 17 minutes after Jackson was penalised for a collision with an airborne Greig Tonks, but the winger’s kick from wide on the left bent short of the posts. Jackson too struggled with a penalty from distance moments later, but it proved of little consequence, as in their very next attack, McCloskey tore through the Scots’ rearguard with all the power of a back-row forward before supplying Trimble on the ‘22’. With plenty still to do, the winger switched the ball from his right to his left hand as he evaded Tim Visser’s lunge, before accelerating to the line for a fine try.
Jackson converted before temporarily leaving the field for treatment on an arm injury sustained in his earlier clash with Tonks, but was back in the fray in time to kick over a further three points just before half-time, with Roddy Grant penalised for killing the ball as Ulster pressed deep in Edinburgh territory.
Half-Time Score Ulster 13 Edinburgh 0
With Andrew Warwick packing down in place of Murphy, the second half opened with Ludik terrorising the Edinburgh defence at close quarters, although an eventual clearance led to the Scots’ best spell of pressure in the game and a rolling maul which Ulster did well to hold up once it breached the line. A crooked put-in from Sean Kennedy at the resulting five-metre scrum, however, put paid to the visitors’ hard work, and Ulster pushed play back to half-way.
A well-worked lineout on 56 minutes saw Bowe break the Edinburgh defensive line, only for play to be called back for a forward pass from Payne as he improvised to flick on a ball from Marshall just before the tackle. Ulster offered no respite, however, and the pressure of their very next attack saw visiting skipper Mike Coman yellow-carded as his side’s penalty count began to mount up.
Successive lineouts for Ulster paid dividends just after the hour mark as Nick Williams, a 50th minute replacement for Wilson, picked up from five metres and dropped low to stretch over the line for his second try of the season, and his eighth in Ulster colours. Olding – now on as a permanent replacement for Jackson – pulled the conversion wide, but on 18 points without reply, Ulster were comfortable.
Best added a third try on 68 minutes as he picked up off the back of a perfectly-executed rolling maul from his own put-in, with Olding this time adding the extras. Trimble completed the rout nine minutes later, latching on to Marshall’s long pass from another successful Ulster scrum to ground by the corner flag.
The winning margin and very nature of the victory come as a much-needed boost for Ulster after last week’s disappointment in Italy, just in time for the series of three must-win matches over the coming weeks – firstly at home to high-flying Glasgow next Saturday in the Guinness Pro12, before taking on Leicester Tigers and Toulon in the opening stages of the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Full-Time Score Ulster 30 Edinburgh 0
Ulster (15 – 9) L Ludik; A Trimble, J Payne, S McCloskey, T Bowe; P Jackson, P Marshall (1 – 8) R Murphy, R Best (c), W Herbst, A O’Connor, F van der Merwe, R Diack, C Henry, R Wilson
Replacements (16 – 23) R Herring, A Warwick, B Ross, L Stevenson, N Williams, M Heaney, S Olding, D Cave
Edinburgh (15 – 9) G Tonks; J Cuthbert, S Beard, A Strauss, T Visser; P Burleigh, S Kennedy (1 – 8) R Sutherland, R Ford, J Andress, A Bresler, G Gilchrist, M Coman (c), R Grant, C du Preez
Replacements (16 – 23) J Hilterbrand, A Dell, WP Nel, O Atkins, T Leonardi, S Hidalgo-Clyne, T Heathcote, N McLennan