Ulster 21 - 13 Edinburgh: Euro hopes blown away in Belfast

Scorers:Ulster: Tries: Cave, Boss; Conversion: Humphreys ; Penalties: Humphreys (2), O'Connor. Edinburgh: Try: Thompson; Conversion: Paterson; Penalties: Paterson (2).

• Eight points from the boot of Edinburgh Rugby's kicking king Chris Paterson in terrible conditions couldn't keep the Murrayfield men's Heineken Cup quarter-final hopes alive.

COACH Rob Moffat felt Edinburgh lost their Pool Four Heineken Cup clash against Ulster because they didn't adapt to the appalling weather conditions as well as Brian McLaughlin's men.

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Tires in each half from Isaac Boss and Darren Cave were enough to give Ulster their first victory in three meeting with Edinburgh this season.

In driving rain and a gale-force wind Ulster won the toss and played against the elements in the first half but only went in at the interval 6-5 down.

"We're very disappointed to lose the game because we came here to win it, the conditions weren't great but Ulster played them better than us," said Moffat.

"I thought both teams made an effort to play rugby in the poor conditions, I think the game for us was maybe lost in the first 15 to 20 minutes."

"Ulster started the game well, they controlled it and kept the ball of us and played well into the wind and we didn't get any momentum. We gave away a fair number of penalties and free kicks in the first half and that is not the way you want to play with the wind and we had a yellow card in the first six minutes which is the last thing you want."

Ulster had led at half time in the two previous encounters this season and despite not making the most of the conditions Moffat felt the game was still there to be won after the break.

"I was disappointed with the try we gave away in the second half, I thought we could win it in the second half if we didn't give a try away because I felt we would score."

"If we can get any sort of decent go forward momentum we are dangerous but well played to Ulster."

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"In some respects it's a shame to play in conditions like that because it is very difficult, I not making excuses because it's the same for both teams."

"You could not fault our side for their character and commitment in the second half because they were never going to lie down, we were getting free kicks and penalties and we were never thinking of kicking them into touch because there was no point in that, we just tapped and went."

"We were always trying to play with real tempo, we find it real hard to slow the game down and Ulster did it very well."

"They showed a lot of experience by not panicking, by recycling the ball, going from side to side and just frustrating us by keeping the ball."

"We don't do that once we get a couple of phases we want to play and it was a night where it was very difficult to do that because you had no option to kick against the wind so you just have to retain the ball and I think that's how Ulster won."

"There is not a lot between the two teams, the two games we won against Ulster could have gone either way and they were tight games."

"Ulster won the toss and decided to play against the conditions and I think that is what you have to do because we would have done the same, the fist 15 to 20 minutes of the game takes time to settle and we would have wanted to turn round with the wind on our backs."

Edinburgh conclude their Heineken Cup campaign against Stade Francais next weekend and, although now out of the reckoning for the quarter-finals, Moffat wants to end the tournament with a big performance and preserve their unbeaten home record in this season's competition.

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"We've got one game left against Stade next week and some people think there is nothing to play for but that is not the case with us we'll be approaching that game the same as we did for Ulster."

"We want to beat Stade for ourselves, if that helps Ulster fine but we want to finish Europe on a high not on a low."

"There is pride to play for every week for us, it's a quality side we are playing next week and we're looking forward to playing them and we'll not be lying down."

"We want to finish Europe having won three and lost three and we want to win all our home games."

Chris Paterson opened the scoring with a penalty on 20 minutes after Edinburgh had survived prop David Young's yellow card on six minutes.

Ulster created a great try which Ireland centre Cave finished off eight minutes later.

Paterson landed a second penalty to give Edinburgh a 6-5 half-time lead.

An Ian Humphreys penalty and a brilliant individual try from Boss put Ulster in the ascendancy.

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British Lions flanker Stephen Ferris was sin binned and Edinburgh took advantage with Jim Thompson touching down and Paterson converting.

Another Humphreys penalty and one from Niall O'Connor denied Edinburgh a bonus point.

Teams

Ulster: Smith; Trimble, Cave, Wallace, Danielli; Humphreys (O'Connor 72), Boss; Court (Young 62), Brady (Kyriacou 62), Botha(Fitzpatrick 75); Tuohy (Caldwell 72), O'Donoghue; Ferris, Pollock, Henry (c). Subs: Anderson, Willis, Nagusa. .

Edinburgh: Paterson (c); Thompson, Cairns (De Luca 50), Houston, Visser (Robertson 65), Godman, Laidlaw (Samson 70); Jacobsen, Ford (Kelly 71), Young; MacLeod (C Hamilton 69), J Hamilton; Newlands, MacDonald, Roddy Grant. Subs: Traynor, Cross, Callam.

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