Ulster 32 Cardiff Blues 13:IT WAS perfect really. An evening of strangely benign weather dovetailed with a cracking bonus-point win for Ulster which keeps them going in the right direction for a possible play-off place.
Ulster again played at a furious pace and scored first-half tries from Craig Gilroy and Ruan Pienaar, before pulling away in the second half when Andrew Trimble and Luke Marshall crashed over.
The scores were supplemented by 12 points from Ian Humphreys, who also had a hand in three of the tries.
Nevin Spence crashed over in the first minute from an assist by Adam D’Arcy, but referee James Jones disallowed the score due to apparent crossing.
Still, Ulster didn’t have to wait long before they got on the scoresheet, though via a rather unlikely route. Humphreys had a crack at a 52-metre penalty which sailed to the right of the posts. The restart was long and came directly back to the outhalf and he ran and chipped over the first line of Blues tacklers and re-gathered the ball without having to check his run.
He broke into open country and drew the remaining tacklers to throw a pass inside to Craig Gilroy which the young winger gladly accepted to dot down under the posts.
After 13 minutes the outhalf had a penalty from virtually the exact same spot as his earlier miss, and this time nailed it.
But with the game fast and loose – there were no scrums for the first half hour – it was almost inevitable the visitors would breach the line and just on 15 minutes Ceri Sweeney linked twice with Dan Fish to supply the fullback with a touchdown under the posts.
Ulster hit back 10 minutes later when a Tim Barker take at a lineout launched Spence through a gap which resulted in several phases and Ruan Pienaar darting over on the blindside.
On 50 minutes, another great surge from Ulster saw Humphreys’ pass create the chance for Trimble to power past Tom James and make the right corner.
Ulster then dug deep to survive when Paddy McCallister was harshly binned for not rolling away from a tackle on Rhys Downes. Even with McCallister in the bin, Ulster got their bonus point when Humphreys supplied Marshall who crashed over with Humphreys adding the conversion.
ULSTER: A D’Arcy; A Trimble, N Spence, L Marshall, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; B Young, A Kyriacou, D Fitzpatrick, J Muller (capt), T Barker, C Henry, W Faloon, P Wannenburg. Replacements: T Seymour for Gilroy (39 mins); P McCallister for Young (40 mins); N Brady for Kyriacou (50 mins); J Cronin for Faloon (64 mins); N McComb for T Barker (65 mins); Faloon for Cronin (72 mins); P Marshall for Humphreys, TJ Anderson for Wannenburg (both 74 mins); I Whitten for Marshall (79 mins).
CARDIFF: D Fish; R Mustoe, G Evans, D Hewitt, T James; C Sweeney, R Downes; T Filise, T Rhys Thomas, S Andrews, D Jones, P Tito (capt), A Pretorius, M Williams, X Rush. Replacements: M Molitika for Tito, T Slater for Downes (both 67 mins); S Hobbs for Andrews, G Williams for Thomas (both 70 mins).
Referee: J Jones (WRU).
