Ulster 29 - 21 Edinburgh: Edinburgh unable to stop rot despite battling display

Six became seven consecutive losses last night in Belfast as Edinburgh's worst ever run in the Magners League continued. However Edinburgh fought hard against a powerful Ulster outfit and repeatedly surged back into a game when they had no right to. They left Belfast without even a bonus point which they deserved for their best performance of the season so far.

Edinburgh got off to the worst possible start, handing a lead to Ulster within two minutes of the kick-off. A series of Ulster attacks from deep had been easily cut down by Edinburgh. Home stand-off Niall O'Connor then varied the attack by kicking towards the right touchline; a ball which should have been an easy field for Mark Robertson. The ball however sailed over his head and was grasped by opposite man Andrew Trimble. Robertson managed to tap tackle Trimble but he was up quickly and sped home for the try. O'Connor missed the conversion.

Edinburgh to their credit were then straight on the attack. Chris Paterson sliced open the Ulster defence from the restart. Geoff Cross, Entail Talei and Alex Grove featured as Edinburgh pressed for the try but were just held out. Ulster though had encroached and Paterson slotted the penalty from in front of the posts.

Edinburgh then repeatedly incurred the wrath of the debutant Italian referee Alan Falzone and gave away a succession of penalties one of which O'Connor converted.

It wasn't long until Ulster added to their lead with their second try of the night. The Ulster forwards made easy yards towards the Edinburgh line with big back-rower Stephen Ferris being hauled down just short. Scrum-half Paul Marshall then fed right to O'Connor whose miss pass to centre Ian Whitten left last defender Tim Visser stranded in no-man's land, to give Whitten a walk in try. Again O'Connor missed the extras.

The 13-3 lead looked ominous for Edinburgh but again the try seemed to galvanise them. Alex Grove did brilliantly to win the restart in the air and Mike Blair directed the attacks upfield swiftly to threaten the Ulster try-line.

Ulster though failed to roll away in the tackle to snuff out the attack and Edinburgh only had a further Paterson penalty to show for their efforts. Paterson had a chance to narrow the gap to four points just before half-time, but his mid-range penalty was pushed just wide, his second missed kick of the season. The 13 - 6 half time deficit was not a disastrous return for Edinburgh, given O'Connor had missed out on seven kickable points.

Ulster opened the second half with a penalty from O'Connor after Edinburgh were caught offside. Another score at this time by Ulster could have been fatal to Edinburgh's hope of victory. But Edinburgh again hit back.The ball was moved left just inside the Edinburgh half, quickly recycled and moved further left to winger Visser just inside the touch line.

Visser with seemingly no space to work with took off down the line and evaded the covering defence to power in for a brilliant try which stunned the Ravenhill crowd. Phil Godman, taking over the place kicking duties from Paterson who failed to emerge after half-time converted to make the score 16-13.

The growing penalty count against Edinburgh became one too many for referee Falzone's liking and Scott Newlands was yellow carded on 50 minutes for not releasing the man in the tackle. O'Connor pushed Ulster six points ahead. Godman replied after an Ulster offside moments later.

Ulster now upped the ante with the vocal home support spurring the team on. The home scrum was clearly dominant in the set piece and Edinburgh were back peddling and struggling to control their own ball. O'Connor landed a drop goal to increase Ulster's lead but missed a penalty that would have given Ulster a nine-point lead with just over ten minutes to go.

It wasn't long though before they extended their lead through a wonderful run from centre Darren Cave who jagged his way through the Edinburgh defence with apparent ease to touch down for the try. O'Connor converted to give Ulster a 29-16 lead.

The game was now seemingly beyond Edinburgh but Ben Cairns had other ideas. He darted down the right touchline to dive over the white wash for the try.

Godman missed the conversion which would have given Edinburgh a losing bonus point. Edinburgh then courageously soaked up a period of late Ulster pressure to deny them a try bonus point.

Scorers

Ulster: Tries: Trimble, Whitten, Cave. Con O'Connor. Pens: O'Connor 3. Drop Goal O'Connor.

Edinburgh: Try Visser, Cairns. Con Godman. Pens Paterson 2 Godman 1

Ulster: J Smith; P Emerick, D Cave, I Whitten, A Trimble; N O'Connor, P Marshall; B Young, A Kyriacou, T Court, J Muller (capt), R Caldwell, S Ferris, C Henry, R Diack. Subs Used: R Best, BJ Botha, P Wannenburg, I Porter,

Edinburgh: C Paterson; M Robertson, B Cairns, A Grove, T Visser; P Godman, M Blair; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, S MacLeod, C Hamilton, S Newlands, N Talei, R Grant (capt). Subs Used : K Traynor, J Gilding, S McInally, D Denton, G Laidlaw, J Houston.