Southern Kings 17
Ulster 42
ULSTER RETURNED TO winning ways on this afternoon with a clinical 42-17 bonus-point win over the Southern Kings at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth during round three of the Guinness PRO14.
Following last week’s loss against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, Ulster restored defensive shape and this led to the visitors being able to pile the pressure on the Kings for the majority of the game.
Matt Faddes ended the game with a man of the match award and Ulster’s ability to capitalise on mistakes and soft moments by the Kings was also outstanding.
Discipline will, however, still be an area of concern for Dan McFarland and his technical staff.
The scoring in Port Elizabeth was opened as soon as the second minute of the game when John Cooney darted over under the posts for a converted try following a set of 10 phases by Ulster.
The Kings fly-half, Demetri Catrakilis, got the hosts on the board with a penalty the 8th minute. Centre, Luke Marshall doubled Ulster’s lead in the 14th minute win a second try by the visitors.
Mere minutes later the Cape Town-born Ulster captain, Rob Herring, strolled in for the third try by the visitors. Once again Marshall made the initial break which led to the try.
The Ulstermen earned the bonus-point in the 30th minute when fullback Matt Faddes collected a pin-point cross-field kick by Billy Burns, for what was his fourth try against the Kings in two outings against the side in the Eastern Cape.
Just two minutes later, Cooney, was sent over for his brace after the Springbok loose-forward, Marcel Coetzee made the break before neatly offloading to the halfback.
The former Cheetahs centre, Tertius Kruger, got in on the action after sustained pressure allowed the Kings to work their way to the Ulster line. Catrakilis landed the conversion to see the score to 35-10 in favour of Ulster at the half time break.
The Kings were a lot more organised in their defence in the first 20 minutes of the second period and this forced Ulster to try and launch attacks from deeper. The scoreboard only started ticking over again in the 60th minute when the flanker, Sean Reidy, managed to score following a penalty and powerful line-out drive by Ulster.
The Kings managed to get a consolation try with about ten minutes remaining the game when the lock, Aston Fortuin, managed to ground the ball. JT Jackson made no mistake in adding the extra two points.
Southern Kings scorers:
Tries: Tertius Kruger, Aston Fortuin
Conversions: Demetri Catrakilis [1 from 1], JT Jackson [1 from 1]
Penalty: Demetri Catrakilis [1 from 1]
Ulster scorers:
Tries: John Cooney [2], Luke Marshall, Rob Herring, Matt Faddes, Sean Reidy
Conversions: John Cooney [6 from 6]
Southern Kings - 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Josiah Twum-Boafo, 13 Tertius Kruger, 12 JT Jackson, 11 Courtney Winnaar, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Tienie Burger, 6 Lusanda Badiyana (captain), 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Jerry Sexton, 3 Rossouw de Klerk, 2 Alandré van Rooyen, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Replacements - 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Pieter Scholtz, 19 JC Astle, 20 Bobby de Wee, 21 Josh Allderman, 22 Sibusiso Sithole, 23 Elrigh Louw.
Ulster - 15 Matt Faddes, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Louis Ludik, 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Sean Reidy, 6 Matthew Rea, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Alan O’Connor, 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Eric O’Sullivan.
Replacements - 16 Adam McBurney, 17 Kyle McCall, 18 Ross Kane, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Greg Jones, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Angus Curtis, 23 James Hume.
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