DAVID HUMPHREYS MIGHT have left Ulster but his brother Ian carried on the family tradition by nailing a late conversion to salvage a 32-32 draw away to the Scarlets in their Guinness Pro12 opener.

Ulster were 32-18 down with just over ten minutes to go after scrum half Gareth Davies crossed to score Scarlets’ bonus point try. But the visitors refused to give in, and tries from Louis Ludik and Andrew Trimble’s bonus point effort at the death, allowed Ian Humphreys to secure three points for his side.

The game started at a frenetic pace as Harry Robinson and Franco van der Merwe swapped converted tries in the first ten minutes, with the latter scoring on his Ulster debut. Dan Tuohy added another try for Ulster minutes later after a superb break from Stuart Olding and it looked like the class in the Ulster backline might come to the fore.

But tries from Rory Pitman and Davies wrestled back the initiative and gave the Scarlets a 24-15 lead at the half. In the second 40, Rhys Priestland and Humphreys swapped penalties before Davies scored his second try of the game, and the contest looked finished at that stage.

But Ulster didn’t think so, and after the Ludik try, Liam Williams of the Scarlets was sent off for a second yellow card as Ulster ramped up the pressure, which they eventually converted into Trimble’s tying score.

Another day, another All Black showing why they are tougher than granite

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