Early scores from Craig Gilroy and Ludik had set the tone in a frenetic opening quarter, before an impressive Cardiff comeback in the second half with two tries in quick succession had put the match’s very outcome in doubt.
However a late rally saw Ulster over the line on an emotional night when Stuart Olding, Paddy Jackson and Chris Henry all returned to action – although a substantial knee injury sustained by Olding early on marred an otherwise perfect day for Neil Doak’s side.
Olding and Jackson had returned to the Ulster starting XV at inside centre and out-half respectively following lengthy lay-offs nursing elbow injuries sustained against Toulon in the European Rugby Champions Cup in January.
With Ludik also returning at full-back, the starting lineup was otherwise unchanged from that which lost by four points to Newport Gwent Dragons earlier in the month. Gilroy, author of two tries at Rodney Parade, started on the right wing with Michael Allen on the left, captain Darren Cave partnering Olding in the centre, and Ruan Pienaar at scrum-half.
The pack saw props Callum Black and Wiehahn Herbst continue either side of hooker Rob Herring, with Dan Tuohy and Franco van der Merwe in the engine room ahead of a back row of Ian Henderson, Clive Ross and Nick Williams.
Another welcome returnee was flanker Henry, back to the replacements bench after his well-documented health scare last November.
Ulster went straight onto the offensive from Jackson’s kick-off, Allen picking up a Cardiff fumble and setting up a protracted attack in which every man from one to 15 got hands on the ball before Jackson’s searching pass to the right wing found Gilroy for the third-minute try.
Pienaar converted from wide, but the collective elation inside the Kingspan Stadium was quickly dampened as Olding was stretchered from the field with his right leg heavily strapped from a blow sustained no more than 30 seconds into the match.
Rory Scholes replaced Olding from the bench, but play was again halted seconds after the restart for lengthy treatment to Blues full-back Rhys Patchell, the recipient of a heavy blow to the head from Williams which saw the Number Eight yellow-carded for dangerous play.
As play eventually resumed, both teams struggled to re-establish the frantic rhythm of the opening five minutes, but Ulster settled better with a 14th-minute Pienaar penalty stretching their lead to 10 points.
Then sheer persistence from Jackson, as he chased a long clearance to put pressure on Patchell’s replacement Tom Isaacs five metres from the Blues’ goal line, won Ulster a lineout on the ‘22’ and, with the considerable weight of the reinstated Williams behind the subsequent driving maul, quick hands from Cave and again Jackson carved an opening for Ludik to exploit, the full-back resisting three tackles to ground by the flag.
The Pienaar conversion veered off-target but Ulster came again, Allen just failing to touch down his own hack through from Pienaar’s box-kick on 24 minutes, with the majority of the Kingspan clamouring for an infringement by chaser Alex Cuthbert – claims which both the referee Marius Mitrea and TMO Alan Rogan refuted after a review of the incident.
Another Pienaar penalty followed on the half-hour mark, before the Blues’ first real sustained attack, which lasted a good eight minutes, saw van der Merwe sinbinned for persistent team infringement but, crucially, even against fourteen men, the visitors failed to register any points before the break.
Half-Time Score Ulster 18 Cardiff Blues 0
Three more points from the boot of Pienaar opened the second period, before Blues out-half Gareth Anscombe – son of former Ulster Head Coach Mark – kicked over Cardiff’s first of the encounter. Better still came from the visitors on 52 minutes, as a virtuoso solo run from winger Lucas Amorosino carved open the Ulster defence for Isaacs to land the try, converted by Isaacs.
Equally incisive running from Scholes moments later got Ulster within metres of try number three before the Blues snatched possession back and hacked clear, and although Henry made his long-awaited return to action on the hour mark to rapturous applause, Cuthbert added a second try for the ever-improving visitors moments later.
With Ulster only four points ahead following Anscombe’s conversion, a 65th-minute penalty from Pienaar steadied the nerves before a sublime crossfield kick from Ian Humphreys – a recent entrant in lieu of Allen – dropped into Ludik’s grateful clutches by the right-hand corner flag for his second try of the night.
Humphreys’ angular conversion missed, but it mattered little as, two minutes later, his fellow replacement Paul Marshall ran over the bonus-point try after a midfield steal from Herring and an unstoppable surge from Henderson.
With Glasgow and Leinster bagging four tries and three points apiece in a 34 – 34 draw in Dublin, the remaining fixtures away to Connacht, home to Leinster and Munster and finally away to Glasgow are all now must-win encounters to secure a top four finish and home Pro12 semi-final.
Full-Time Score Ulster 36 Cardiff Blues 17
Ulster (15-9): L Ludik; C Gilroy, D Cave (c), S Olding, M Allen; P Jackson, R Pienaar (1-8) C Black, R Herring, W Herbst, D Tuohy, F van der Merwe, I Henderson, C Ross, N Williams;
Replacements (16-23) J Andrew, A Warwick, B Ross, R Diack, C Henry, P Marshall, I Humphreys, R Scholes.
Blues (15-9): R Patchelll; A Cuthbert, C Allen, G Evans, L Amorosino; G Anscombe, L Williams (1-8) S Hobbs, M Rees (c), A Jones, J Hoeata, L Reed, J Turnbull, E Jenkins, J Navidi;
Replacements (16-23) K Dacey, T Filise, S Andrews, M Cook, M Vosawai, T Knoyle, G Davies, T Isaacs.