Ulster v Edinburgh

Dublin, Aviva Stadium

London is Calling for the Finals in May but the question on everyone’s lips was, who would be in that final. Edinburgh ran out underdogs with Ulster holding the favourite tag having beaten the Scottish opposition on two previous occasions this season albeit in the RaboDirect Pro12, however this was a different day and a different competition. An estimated 40,000 Ulster supporters made the trip down to the Irish capital for this game, the same venue where in 1999 they put Colomiers to the sword to be the first Irish team to lift the European Cup, could history be repeated?. However things have moved on from then and this was the Northern Province’s excursion into the semi-finals since those giddy days back in 99.

The talk ahead kickoff was the inclusion of young outhalf Paddy Jackson in the starting 10 jersey ahead of the more experienced Ian Humphreys. Jackson is a young player who has improved immensely over the last couple of seasons. He executes the basics very well and makes his tackles, something which Ulster really needed to nail as Edinburgh backrowers Ross Rennie and David Denton would make a bee line for the 10 jersey on every given opportunity.

The pyrotechnics and dancing was over, and it was time for the real games to begin courtesy of Paddy Jackson.

It was a busy start by Edinburgh but a well taken catch by Blair came to nothing as his chip through was a little ambitious and then on 4 minutes we had the first scrum of the game from which Ulster were awarded a penalty when Allan Jacobsen slipped his bind in view of the referee. The conditions weren’t ideal for kicking with a swirling wind but Pienaar made it look easy with a kick from just inside his own half out on the right to give Ulster an early 3-0 lead.

On 8 minutes Ulster hooker Rory Best was penalised for not releasing in the tackle, a marginal call it was enough to hand Edinburgh an opportunity through the boot of Grieg Laidlaw who made no mistake to level the scores at 3-3.

Good interlinking play between Andrew Trimble and Stephen Ferris looked to put Ulster on the attack but critically they were penalised for going off their feet in the tackle while trying to retain possession. Laidlaw took the penalty to give Edinburgh the lead with a well taken kick. 3-6 after 12 minutes.

An Ulster attacking scrum just inside the Edinburgh 22 provided an excellent attacking platform. They broke left and were now 10 metres from the line. Am inside pass to Gilroy saw them bring play to within 5 metres of the line where they were awarded another attacking scrum for an infringement at the breakdown. The scrum was superb and with it came the drive. Calmly controlling the ball at the base Wannenburg picked and broke to dot down over the Edinburgh line. Pienaar added the conversion and Ulster regained the lead 10-6 with 16 minutes played.

Ulster were playing a controlled game and a superb Paddy Wallace kick once again penned Edinburgh into their own 22.

Around the 20 minute mark Edinburgh enjoyed a good spell of possession punching into the Ulster 22 with a superb run from Visser although they somewhat looked to run out of ideas and elected to chip through when playing the ball through the hands would have been the better option. Terblanche was on hand for Ulster to mop up the ball. Edinburgh now had an attacking 5m scrum. Three phases later they had spilled the ball and with it went a golden opportunity to register their first try of the game.

Terblanche was yellow carded on 28 minutes for a slap on Edinburgh hooker Ross Ford as Edinburgh went on another attack once again lead by winger Tim Visser who was cutting some fantastic angles up the middle of the park.
5 metres from the line and with men out wide Edinburgh elected to take the ball into contact where a solid Ulster defensive hit forced Talei to spill the ball forward giving Ulster an attacking scrum 5 metres from their own line.

Edinburgh were really holding their own as play reached the 35 minute mark, enjoying good possession and managing to keep the ball alive hoping to exploit their extra man advantage. But equally so, the Ulster defence were holding firm save for a slight gap which Mike Blair exploited to put Edinburgh deep in the Ulster 22 but on that occasion the good work came to nothing.

With 37 minutes on the clock, an uncharacteristic error when the Edinburgh player chased up the high ball, however he was ahead of the kicker which brought play back to where the ball was kicked from and Ulster were handed a penalty. Pienaar made no mistake and Ulster had extended their lead to 13-6 as we approached the interval. Crucially Ulster were now restored to their full compliment of 15 players as Terblanche returned from the sin-bin.

A fortuitous bounce at the back of the lineout was picked up by Ross Rennie who powered into the Ulster 22 as play reached 40 mintues. Two phases later and Laidlaw was lining up a penalty which he slotted with ease to bring the scores to 13-9 at halftime.

Halftime Ulster 13 – 9 Edinburgh

Ulster got off to an excellent restart thumping deep into the Edinburgh 22 with a scything run by centre Paddy Wallace who has looked lively all day. Edinburgh were deploying the garryowen up and under, and with 44 minutes played Edinburgh centre Matt Scott took a high ball giving his side possession in the Ulster half. A few phases later and Edinburgh were handed a penalty, Laidlaw pointed for posts. Making good the kick he closed the gap to a single point at 13-12 five minutes after the restart.

A good Ulster chance went awry when a bootlaces pass from Cave out wide to Trimble was knocked on by the Ulster winger. From the resulting scrum Ulster demolished the Edinburgh pack but referee Romaine Poite correctly spotted an Ulster infringement and handed possession back to Edinburgh. Their kick for touch and resulting lineout was turned over by Ulster who forced Tom Brown to gather 5 metres from his own try line, the fullback was dragged into touch handing Ulster an attacking 5m lineout. A statement of intent, Ulster from the penalty then kicked for touch setting up another driving maul 5 metres from the line. Ulster lock Dan Tuohy was within inches of the line when his side was handed an attacking scrum to keep pressure on the Edinburgh defence.

Both teams making a good battle of the scrums which were proving a real contest, much to the credit of both packs. The ball was out and Ulster broke left before Dan Tuohy straightened the attack and brought play to within a foot of the line. However excellent work in the tackle by Laidlaw saw the outhalf strip Wannenburg of the ball while the big South African was powering towards the line to relieve pressure on the Edinburgh defence.

Roddy Grant replaced Ross Rennie in the Edinburgh backrow on 56 minutes his first contribution being a defensive scrum 5 metres outside his own 22. An infringement at the breakdown handed Ruan Pienaar another penalty15 metres in from the far touchline. The kick was good and Ulster had extended their leading margin to 16-12.

A neat chip over the top by Pienaar on the hour mark put Edinburgh back deep inside their own half. One minute later, Ulster had an attacking lineout 15 metres inside the Edinburgh half. An excellent drive by the forwards brought play almost to the 10 metre line while Poite played advantage from an Edinburgh player joining the maul from the side. This handed Pienaar another penalty this time on the opposite side of the field 5 metres in from touch. Again he made no mistake as the ball dissected the uprights giving his side a 19012 lead with 63 minutes gone.

With 64 minutes gone Edinburgh were looking to press into the Ulster 22. A great break by No8 Netani Talei set-up the ruck however, with quick recycle, hooker Ross Ford was unable to hold onto the ball and with that, a good opportunity was squandered.

In the final 10 minutes Edinburgh were still trying but in reality they had run out of ideas in the face of an outstanding Ulster defensive line. In attack, Edinburgh’s alignment was poor with little depth, telegraphing the fact that they were going to kick possession down field. A knock-on by No8 Talei and a potent Ulster scrum forced Edinburgh to infringe putting the visitors well and truly on the back foot. With 5 minutes left Pienaar further extended Ulster’s lead with a well taken penalty to set the scores at 22-12.

As the final minutes ran down Edinburgh struggled, however against the run of play, a sensational break by No8 Netania Taleia up the middle of the field saw Godman take the pass and offload to Jim Thompson who ran in for Edinburgh’s first and only try of the game as the clock turned 80. The conversion was good and at the final whistle it was Ulster who had booked their place in the Final to with a 22-19 winning scoreline.

FT Ulster 22-19 Edinburgh
MOTM Ruan Pienaar