Edinburgh 3
Ulster 9
EDINBURGH BADE A losing goodbye to Murrayfield this evening as Ulster cxame away from their RaboDirect Pro12 encounter with the points.
Stephen Ferris, making his first start for Ulster, put in a good shift in a pack that was forced to cope without sin-binned Iain Henderson from the 18 minute mark. The home side were three points to the good at that stage, through Carl Beziudenhout, but Ulster levelled matters with a Paddy Jackson effort.
Mark Anscombe’s men edged ahead after Henderson rejoined the fray but Jackson missed a third penalty attempt that would have made it 9-3 at the break. That was the scoreline, however, after 46 minutes as Jackson gave his team some breathing room.
The Murrayfield pitch is in a dire state at present and will need to be re-laid in the coming weeks. It certainly did not help make the game a free-flowing spectacle but Ulster will be happy with a win that keeps them in the hunt for top spot. They were also pleased to welcome back lock Dan Tuohy as a second-half sub and a full 80 minute outing for Luke Marshall.
Ulster: Jared Payne; Tommy Bowe, Darren Cave, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy; Paddy Jackson, Michael Heaney (Paul Marshall); Tom Court, Rob Herring, John Afoa (Ricky Lutton); Johann Muller (capt.) Iain Henderson; Stephen Ferris (Robbie Diack), Sean Doyle (Dan Tuohy), Roger Wilson (Nick Williams).