MAGNERS LEAGUE: Ulster 13 Glasgow 26IT WAS a dreadful night weather wise, with wind and rain barrelling down the Ravenhill pitch, and there was even less cheer for Ulster as they fell to their second successive Magners League defeat at the hands of a Glasgow side who earned a valuable away win to move to the top of the table and played the conditions with more intelligence and had Dan Parks to pick off the scores they needed.
The Warriors outhalf kicked 20 points, missing only two kicks from nine attempts, as Ulster lost their way in the second half after going in 13-6 up, a lead that was always going to be vulnerable with Ulster having to play into the conditions.
Glasgow simply picked off Ulster, who were without the injured trio of Stephen Ferris, Paddy Wallace and BJ Botha, with the key score coming from Thom Evans late in the second half.
Ulster simply had no response.
With the driving wind and rain in their faces, the Warriors made the early move on the scoreboard with a Dan Parks penalty after five minutes and came close to increasing that lead after a Richie Vernon burst put Thom Evans in space only for him to brought to ground by fellow Scotland international Simon Danielli.
Even so, Ulster infringed at the breakdown and the Warriors had another opportunity for points only for Parks to steer his effort into the conditions wide to the right of the uprights.
Ulster, with skipper Chris Henry putting in a huge amount of work, responded and Ian Humphreys landed his first penalty on the quarter of an hour after Glasgow pulled a driving maul to ground.
He was then wide though, three minutes later, when referee James Jones penalised the Warriors front row at the scrum but, five minutes short of the half hour, Humphreys nailed a close-range penalty after Warriors’ hands were used on the deck after Ian Whitten was hauled down near the posts from a Humphreys pass.
Things went from bad to worse for Glasgow as prop Jon Welsh was binned and Ulster used their man advantage to drive the Warriors back to their line where Tom Court was driven over with Humphreys converting the prop’s 38th minute effort.
Parks then closed the 10 point gap with a long-range injury-time penalty to give Ulster a 13-6 lead.
He then immediately narrowed again on the resumption and made it a one-point lead for the hosts with a 50 metre wind-assisted effort a minute later as Ulster’s frontrow were penalised.
He then knocked over another penalty after Ulster had hands in a ruck on their line, after 60 minutes, giving Glasgow an 18-13 lead but was wide with another long-range effort just five minutes later.
Still, Parks had more to contribute and his bomb, missed by Humphreys who was substituted shortly afterwards, was driven on by John Barclay before replacement Chris Cusiter’s dummy put Thom Evans through in the left corner.
It was a clinical finish and then Parks went and added another two points with a superb conversion from the touchline.
ULSTER: Schifcofske, Nagusa, Cave, Whitten, Danielli, Humphreys, Boss, Court, Kyriacou, D. Fitzpatrick, Tuohy, Caldwell, Pollock, Faloon, Henry. Replacements: P. Marshall for Nagusa (31), Shiels for Cave (65), O'Connor for Humphreys (69), Young for D. Fitzpatrick (63), O'Donoghue for Caldwell (58), Anderson for Faloon (58). Not Used: Brady.
GLASGOW: Stortoni, Dunbar, M. Evans, Morrison, T. Evans, Parks, McMillan, Welsh, Hall, Low, Barker, Gray, Brown, Barclay, Vernon. Replacements: Murchie for Dunbar (53), Cusiter for McMillan (53), Turner for Barker (62). Not Used: Thomson, Tkachuk, Forrester, Gregor.
Referee: James Jones (WRFU).
** Edinburgh joined Glasgow at the top of the table with a hard-fought 17-16 two-try victory over the Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets last night.
The Scottish side had to come back from 8-3 and 13-10 down either side of half-time but were indebted to tries by Greg Laidlaw and Craig Hamilton.
The Scarlets, who have now only won two games in eight, scored two tries themselves through Richie Pugh and Lee Williams but it was not enough against a more streetwise Edinburgh, although they did register a losing bonus point.
