Cardiff ... 21 Ulster ... 33Such has been his meteoric rise this season that Ulster flanker Neil McMillan was struggling to cope with the praise heaped on him on Saturday evening following another superb man-of-the-match performance which inspired Ulster to a rare victory in Europe away from Ravenhill.
McMillan's two tries - his first touchdowns on the European stage - in one of Ulster's best opening halves of the season proved the foundation for the win that keeps alive their slim hopes of qualification to the quarter-finals.
Victory against Northampton, with Biarrtiz certain to prove too strong at home to Cardiff, would leave the three sides locked on eight points each.
The complicated qualification process then examines the try-count in the matches between the tied sides, which effectively means removing tries and points scored by the three against Cardiff. If the sides still can't be differentiated, the points difference in the matches between the tied sides is the decisive factor.
On that basis, Ulster will go into Friday's match knowing victory plus outscoring the Saints by four tries, or by three tries and a margin of victory of 19 points, would see Alan Solomons's side top the most difficult pool in the competition.
A long shot, to say the least, but McMillan, in his first season as a full-time contracted player, feels home advantage and a expected first full house of the season will ensure Ulster have the necessary inspiration to give it a real go.
"It is not out of the question," insisted McMillan. "At least we have a chance to do it. If we had lost to Cardiff or Biarritz had won at Northampton, we would have been out.
"Now we have something to fight for and the crowd at Ravenhill does tend to give us a 10 or 15-point start every game. We will just get stuck into them and see what happens.
"The victory has also exorcised a lot of the demons from the Munster defeat. Last week the fact that we couldn't get a pitch that wasn't frozen to train on meant there was a bit of gloom about everyone. But that was a really big performance by us. We had talked about getting the away win all week and Cardiff proved to be a tough side.
"To win away from home has put us all right back up there and now the focus is on rising to the challenge on Friday night."
The progress of the 21-year-old McMillan has been one of the brightest lights for Ulster in a season that has been undermined at times by critical injury problems.
It was a long-term injury to captain Andy Ward in the early part of the season that allowed the former Ireland under-21 player to enjoy an unbroken run in the team and he seized his chance with aplomb, making the number seven jersey his own even after Ward's return.
"Wardie has been a big influence on me in training, along with Tony (McWhirter) and Bros (Warren Brosnihan)," he said. "This season has been a total bonus. I didn't expect to be starting this season. I still don't feel I should be here. Whatever happens is a bonus because I didn't expect to get this far."
McMillan's brace, along with a penalty try, which were all converted by David Humphreys, who also kicked a penalty, took Ulster to a commmanding 24-12 lead at the interval in the first half dominated by the visitors.
Indeed Ulster should have been completely out of sight, but for some inaccurate finishing and two defensive lapses which allowed Nick Walne and Matt Allen to run in two soft tries for Cardiff.
Ulster's profligacy almost cost them dearly after the break, when three penalties by Nicky Robinson twice narrowed the deficit to six points and Ulster lost Robbie Kempson to the sin bin for a high tackle.
But Humphreys used his experience to take the sting out of Cardiff's revival by dropping deeper and pinning them back with some superb punting.
The outhalf also managed to kick two penalties during Cardiff's purple patch before Bryn Cunningham landed a perfectly-struck drop goal from 40 metres to seal the victory.
SCORING SEQUENCE
1 min: D Humphreys pen 0-3
13 mins: N McMillan try, Humphreys con 0-10
24 mins: N Walne try 5-10
25 mins: N McMillan try, Humphreys con 5-17
35 mins: Pen try (Ulster), Humphreys con 5-24
38 mins: M Allen try, N Robinson con 12-24
49 mins: Robinson pen 15-24
56 mins: Robinson pen 18-24
64 mins: Humphreys pen 18-27
65mins: Robinson pen 21-27
70 mins: Humphreys pen 21-30
79mins: B Cunningham drop-goal 21-33
CARDIFF: R Williams; N Walne, J Robinson, M Allen, A Sullivan; N Robinson, R Powell; P Rogers, G Woods, T Payne, H Senekal, J Tait, D Baugh, M Williams (capt), E Lewis.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; J Topping, R Constable, S Stewart, S Coulter; D Humphreys, N Doak; R Kempson, M Sexton, S Best, G Longwell, J Davidson, A Ward (capt), N McMillan, T McWhirter (R Nelson 65). Replacements: P Shields for M Sexton 61 mins, R Nelson for McWhirter 65 mins, C Boyd for Ward 68-75 mins
Referee: R Goodliffe (RFU)
