ULSTER 30 SCARLETS 15

Tonight at Kingspan Stadium, Ulster powered their way to a second consecutive bonus-point victory over the Scarlets, strengthening their claim on a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final berth with three wins from four, and two matches to play. Sitting joint first in Pool Four on 14 points with Racing 92 in advance of the Parisians’ round four match at Leicester on Sunday, Dan McFarland’s side have everything to play for in their remaining group fixtures at home to Racing and away to the Tigers in January. An Iain Henderson brace and scores from Jacob Stockdale and John Cooney secured the bonus point tonight, but much as it had been last week at the Parc y Scarlets, it was the collective cohesion throughout the team which made the win just as comfortable as the scoreline suggested. Head coach McFarland kept faith with the matchday 23 that secured last Friday’s bonus-point win in Llanelli, selecting a back row of full-back Louis Ludik, wings Henry Speight and Stockdale, centres Will Addison and Stuart McCloskey, and the half-back tandem of Billy Burns and Cooney. The unchanged pack featured a front row of Eric O’Sullivan, Rory Best and Marty Moore, locks Henderson and Kieran Treadwell, flankers Sean Reidy and Jordi Murphy, and Number Eight Marcell Coetzee, author of last week’s bonus-point try. Ulster made no bones about their intent straight from the off, Burns sending a searching kick down each wing in the opening three minutes to put the Scarlets on the back foot, but it was an old-fashioned pick-and-drive that brought the first points of the evening, forcing a penalty that Cooney dispatched from just inside the 10-metre line. Addison was soon touching down – albeit from a clear forward pass from Speight – and the game pursued a course of high perspiration with little inspiration until the 27^th minute, when three cynical team infringements saw Wyn Jones sin-binned, and two scrums later, Henderson forced his way over for the try. The Cooney conversion took Ulster to double figures, but a Rhys Patchell penalty a minute from the break kept the Scarlets in touch, with Jones’s return to the action seconds later restoring a level playing field for the start of the second half. Half-Time Score Ulster 10 Scarlets 3 A Scarlets interception eight minutes from the restart led to a kick-and-chase spanning almost the entire length of the pitch, and despite the best efforts of Addison and Speight to track back, Jonathan Davies slid onto the loose ball right on the try-line for the score, referee Luke Pearce and the TMO satisfied that there had been no Scarlets offside at the moment of the interception. Patchell’s conversion restored parity, but it was to prove short-lived as in Ulster’s very next attack a pinpoint kick in behind from Burns reached Stockdale on the left wing, and the youngster made short work of two prospective tacklers to land his second in as many games against the Welshmen. Cooney’s conversion flew wide, but he made no such mistake with a central penalty just before the hour, and with the experience of Darren Cave now in midfield – a replacement for Stockdale – Ulster wasted little time in administering the killer blow, Henderson again the author from close range after persistence from his fellow forwards. This time Cooney’s aim was true, and now simply irresistible, Ulster powered to the bonus point within five minutes, Cooney applying the finishing touch off a rolling maul once Best had taken the ball to the line. To their credit Scarlets toiled away for the remaining 10 minutes, eventually grabbing their consolation try two minutes from time courtesy of Tom Prydie. It mattered little, however, and Ulster can bow turn their attention to the Guinness Pro14, where festive interprovincial clashes against Munster and Connacht await. Full-Time Score Ulster 30 Scarlets 15 Ulster (15 – 9) Louis Ludik; Henry Speight, Will Addison, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, John Cooney (1 – 8) Eric O’Sullivan, Rory Best (c), Marty Moore, Iain Henderson, Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee Replacements (16 – 23) Rob Herring, Kyle McCall, Tom O’Toole, Matthew Rea, Nick Timoney, David Shanahan, Johnny McPhillips, Darren Cave Scarlets (15 – 9) Johnny McNicholl; Tom Prydie, Jonathan Davies, Kieron Fonotia, Steff Evans; Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies (1 – 8) Rob Evans, Ken Owens, Samson Lee, Lewis Rawlins, David Bulbring, Will Boyde, James Davies, Uzair Cassiem Replacements (16 – 23) Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Werner Kruger, Steven Cummins, Dan Davis, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Dan Jones, Paul Asquith Match report by Neil Carnduff