Glasgow Warriors 33
Ulster 20
ULSTER’S RECENT WINNING run came to an end in Glasgow as the home side overcame a shaky start to ease their way home with a five-try victory.
It was a disappointing night for Irish fans, though the appearance of South African World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff early in the second half will have brought some hope of a return to form soon.
To be fair, over recent seasons these fixtures have tended to go the way of the home team though it was the visitors that seized the initiative from the start, helped by the home side’s indiscipline, which earned a string of penalties from referee Ben Whitehouse.
As a result, it didn’t take long for Ulster to edge ahead with three line out mauls and the third ending when hooker Tom Stewart peeled off the back and drover over with John Cooney converting.
Glasgow had still hardly touched the ball when Ulster went back on the attack. The defence hesitated when Cooney seemed to nudge the ball at the back of the ruck but Whitehouse ruled it had gone back and Cooney took advantage by slipping over for the second try.
Glasgow did hit back through their scrum half, Sean Kennedy hurdling the final defenders to nip round the side of a ruck.
They dominated the rest of the half only to hit sterling Ulster defence until the final seconds of the half when they got thier sixth attempt at a rolling maul to work. Hooker George Turner grounded the ball and the scores were level at the break.
The second half opened in the same way with only super defence from Iain Henderson, Harry Sheridan and Eric O’Sullivan who held up Sione Tuipulotu over the line, preventing them falling behind.
It couldn’t change the momentum, though, and seconds after the substitution Ulster fans had been waiting for with Kitshoff coming on for his first game, the home side edged ahead. Ulster held their maul on the line but the ball spun wide and full back Josh McKay put wing Kyle Rowe in for the score.
The pressure continued and superb hands out the in the backs put home try-scoring hooker Johnny Matthews on a race down the wing to score seconds after coming off the bench. He finished by putting the icing on the cake for the home side with a more orthodox front row try, driving over from short range to settle the result.
Glasgow Warriors scorers:
Tries - Kennedy, Turner, Rowe, Matthews (2).
Conversion - Jordan [4/5]
Ulster scorers:
Tries - Stewart, Cooney
Conversions - Cooney [2/2]
Penalties - Cooney [1/1], Doak [1/1]
GLASGOW WARRIORS: Josh McKay, Sebastian Cancelliere, Sione Tuipulotu (Duncan Weir, 71), Stafford McDowall (C), Kyle Rowe; Tom Jordan, Sean Kennedy (Ben Afshar, 76); Jamie Bhatti (Oli Kebble, 58), George Turner (Johnny Matthews, 58), Zander Fagerson (Lucio Sordoni, 57), Greg Peterson (Sintu Manjezi, 71), Scott Cummings (Richie Gray, 71), Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge (Sione Vailanu, 58), Jack Dempsey.
ULSTER: Will Addison, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume (Ben Moxham, 65), Luke Marshall, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns (Nathan Doak, 19), John Cooney (Dave Shanahan, 60); Eric O’Sullivan (Steven Kitshoff, 50), Tom Stewart (Zac Solomon, 71), Tom O’Toole (Marty Moore, 50), Kieran Treadwell (sin bin: 52-62, Iain Henderson (C)(Alan O’Connor, 50), Harry Sheridan (Matty Rea, 13-19, 52), Reuben Crothers, James McNabney.