Ulster exit kitchen as Wasps turn up the heat

Another enjoyable night at Ravenhill, English drawing power ensuring a huge crowd and the hint of a vintage night at the venue as Ulster gave it a good shot. They took the game to Wasps bravely, and home advantage was probably worth the 13-point start Ulster irreverently accumulated at the outset. But class told as Wasps silenced the 7,000 crowd with a stinging rebuke for a half-hour in the middle of the match when they accumulated 38 points of their own without reply.

It could then have been better for Ulster, but it could have been worse too. "A few basic errors at the wrong time cost us," rued Ulster manager John Kinnear, reflecting the standards now being set at this sub-international level. "Really that shows that we do have the skill levels to compete with these top English sides, but to compete with them on a level footing, what we need now is more of a full-time, professional set-up."

It was the pace of the game which really did for Ulster, as Wasps showed their collective ability and desire to keep the ball alive at unrelenting speed, in what was probably the best demonstration of the modern game on Irish soil so far this season.

When Wasps turned up the heat, Ulster simply had to vacate the kitchen, and when Keith Gallick and Tony McWhirter departed after an hour they looked exhausted. They weren't the only ones breathing heavily, for this game looked what it was, full-time professionals against semi-professionals/amateurs, and Ulster are arguably the least fittest of the four Irish provinces.

Until Wasps' superior fitness took hold, Ulster gave as good as they got. Stuart Laing put them ahead after 10 minutes with his first shot at goal. Roared on with gusto, and led from the front by Stephen Ritchie, Gary Longwell and their useful back-row, Ulster hammered away at the Wasps line before Laing's chip to the far corner saw Jan Cunningham standing too deep. It's that lack of incisiveness in the opposition 22 which has cost Ulster dearly this season and, revealingly, it was from a breakaway try that they pushed further ahead.

Alex King, generally mixing the sublime with the not-so-clever in his expansive game, looped around Henderson before his laboured pass to Nick Greenstock was intercepted by Cunningham inside his own 22 for the winger to race away with thinly concealed glee.

Laing's conversion and another penalty put it up to Wasps, and how they responded. With Ulster spilling the ball self-destructively around the fringes, the resulting pressure told when the impressive Rob Henderson augmented King's half-break and blind-side pass with a scoring support run.

Stephen McKinty then compounded his mistake in breaking too soon on the blind side of a scrum on half-way by waving Andy Gomarsall through and Shane Roiser took the inside pass to burst between two trailing defenders and score.

Rees landed a penalty and converted further tries by Greenstock (carving through at full tilt after King's brilliant pick-up), Michael White and Lawrence Dallaglio, both after text-book drives by an increasingly dominant pack. Suddenly Wasps were out of sight, and the truly alarming thing about all of that is that they will be disappointed with various aspects of their play, not least several turnovers inside the opposition 22.

Ulster were blowing hard, and Davey Haslett wisely brought on Murtagh Rea and Roger Wilson up front. Taking up the gauntlet from Wasps, Ulster began to pass blind and run from anywhere as well. After a Laing penalty, the out-half, Andrew Park and Michael Jackson worked the blind side to put Cunningham over again for a good try. Credit for that much at least to Ulster, though in truth Wasps won this game much like they've sauntered through to the quarter-finals - at a canter.

Scoring sequence: 10 mins - Laing pen, 3-0; 19 - J Cunningham try, Laing con, 10-0; 23 - Laing pen, 13-0; 32 - Henderson try, Rees con, 13-7; 37 - Roiser try, Rees con, 1314; 42 - Rees pen, 13-17; 45 - Greenstock try, Rees con, 13-24; 53 - White try, Rees con, 13-31; 60 - Dallaglio try, Rees con, 13-38; 72 - Laing pen 16-38; 75 - J Cunningham try, 21-38.

Ulster: R Morrow; J Topping, M Jackson, M Field, J Cunningham; S Laing, A Matchett; G Leslie, S Ritchie, R Irwin, T McWhirter, G Longwell, S McKinty (capt), K Gallick, A Ward. Replacements: A Park for Topping (34 mins); (temporary) B Cunningham for Field (40-44); M Rea for McWhirter (62 mins), R Wilson for Gallick (62 mins).

Wasps: G Rees; S Roiser, N Greenstock, R Henderson, K Logan; A King, A Gomarsall; D Molloy, S Mitchell, W Green, M Weedon, A Reed, L Dallaglio, J Worsley, M White. Replacements: D Cronin for Weedon (6 mins), A Black for Molloy (68 mins), P Volley for White (68 mins), L Scrase for Greenstock (76 mins).

Referee: N Lasaga (France).