Try-scorer: Pedrie Wannenburg
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Ulster booked their place in the 2012 Heineken Cup Final after putting in a professional performance to defeat Edinburgh 22-19 on Saturday.
It was a win starring scrum-half Ruan Pienaar, who contributed not only seventeen points but also guided Ulster from minute one in Dublin.
He was backed up by number eight and fellow countryman Pedrie Wannenburg as he scored the game's only try in his last term in the white shirt.
The Ravenhill outfit must now wait to see whether they will face Leinster or Clermont in the final, which will be played at Twickenham on May 19.
On this form though, Ulster will fear neither side as they had a collective steeliness that saw them largely control their own destiny at Aviva Stadium.
Pienaar started the scoring in the sixth minute from the tee but after a good period of possession from the Scottish side, Greig Laidlaw made it 3-3.
Scotland's nuggety back was then on the mark again with a second three-pointer that put his side ahead with twelve minutes played in the Irish captial.
Back came Ulster through their destructive forwards and when Wannenburg went over ten metres to the right of the posts, Pienaar was beginning to show the army of travelling Ulster supporters that the South African was in one of those metronomic moods off the kicking tee.
With Ulster 10-6 up coming up to the half-hour mark, it was looking like being a typically tense semi-final. And things were about to increase thereafter when Stefan Terblanche was yellow carded by referee Romain Poite after he seemed to slap Ross Ford in the face.
Edinburgh could not capitalise on their numerical advantage, however, and in fact only troubled the scorers once the South African veteran returned to the field. That was via the boot of Laidlaw, who made it 13-9 at the interval. A major concern for Ulster was flanker Stephen Ferris hobbling toward the changing rooms with both knees heavily strapped.
Ferris emerged for the second 40 minutes seemingly in good shape as Ulster continued to press home their superiority at the set-piece - a strange throw from Ford to Mike Blair was just one sign that the Ravenhill side were beginning to get under the skin of their rivals.
Laidlaw did cut the gap to just one point though but when Pienaar capitalised on some more sterling work from his pack with three successful kicks, it looked like Ulster's passage to Twickenham was all but assured. But as has been Edinburgh's wont in this competition this season, they did not go down with a whimper as replacement Jim Thompson finished a slick move in added-time, which Laidlaw converted, for the most redundant of consolations.
The scorers:
For Ulster:
Try: Wannenburg
Con: Pienaar
Pen: Pienaar 5
For Edinburgh:
Try: Thompson
Con: Laidlaw
Pen: Laidlaw 4
Ulster: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Willie Faloon, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (capt), 3 Declan Fitzpatrick, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Robbie Diack, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Adam D'Arcy.
Edinburgh: 15 Tom Brown, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw (capt), 9 Mike Blair, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 David Denton, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Sean Cox, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Steven Turnbull, 20 Roddy Grant, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Phil Godman, 23 Jim Thompson.
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces (France), Pascal Gauzere (France)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Comments
crunchfit says...
I know he was. I was talking about Stuart Barnes, the commentator ("why does he have to commentate on big games like these?").
Posted 15:21 01st May 2012
darthbok says...
Ulster played really well. thanks to that rugby god pienaar. There is no side in the world that would not want this guy in the team. can play about any position in the line.Can kick, run, pass, tackle and most importantly put the team where it needs to be.So few players have that sort of rugby brain.He is the lynch pin. Bring on leinster , whe have alot more fire power and talent , and will unfortunately overpower ulster in the final. the rest of the ulster line is for too weak .
Posted 08:38 30th April 2012
jontheref says...
crunchfit
The referee was Poite, not Barnes.
Posted 08:28 30th April 2012
GCP_JONES says...
A very entertaining game well played by both teams. I thought the Ulster scrum was very good, to think that its was only Declan Fitzpatrick's second game since January I thought he played very well, but he will be on the bench for the final and may be a bit too late to get on the plane to NZ in June which is a pity.
Finally this proves once and for all that Tom Court is a decent Loose-head and should not be put in that situation again by Declan Kidney. Ireland should have a full front row on the bench for the Summer Tests against the All blacks, with Mike McCarthy, Donnacha Ryan or Kevin Mc Laughlin covering both Lock and back row.
Finally I hope McLaughlin and Bradley both put their names in the hat for the Irish head coach When Deccie says goodbye next summer.They both can hold their heads high.
Posted 13:02 29th April 2012
Ulsterman1999 says...
The main thing is that Ulster won the match.
Yes they played poorly. Yes they gave away the ball all to easily. Yes they didn't commit to the breakdown and yes they missed tackles.
But they still won the game. It says a lot about this Ulster side that they can play that porly and yet still come away with the win.
Lets also get some perspective chaps. This was Ulsters first European cup semi final in 13 years. This was a totally new experience for all those involved and yet they survived. All that matters is the win and they got it.
Uster were also without Afoa and Henry both of whom are essental to the Ulster set up. They guard the area around the breakdown and i'm pretty sure that if they were playing Edinburgh would have found it a lot harder to penetrate the area around the ruck.
However most encouraging of all was the contribution made buy the young indigenous Irish players. Paddy Jackson is only 20 years of age and yet he put in a sold performance. In Declan Fitzpatrick we are developing a competent tight head able to perform on the European stage. In Darren Cave we have an outside centre who is defensively sound and is able to run a decent line. I only wish our fellow Irish men in the other provences would look at the positives rather than dwell on the negatives.
This was a bad day at the office but Ulster are a good side on the way up. Not may sides beat Munster at home in Europe. Not many beat Lecister Tigers by 34 points. This is a good side who had a poor day.
Congratulations to all involved in Ulster Rugby.
Posted 12:12 29th April 2012
makemehappy says...
@staph_glorious - the errors were far from inevitable - they were ridiculous and typical of scottish teams. A more clynical team would have beaten Ulster by a considerable margin. Edinburgh threw away the game quite clearly.
As for Ulster's scramble defence, I didn't think it was that good. Ulster were simply rather lucky. Well done to them though, they did play very well in qualifying. Can't believe they will win the competition though after playing so poorly in the last two rounds.
Posted 11:52 29th April 2012
crunchfit says...
@JeanLucJoinel
Not sure if they would have lost without Pienaar. A closer game, yeah, certainly not a definite win to Edinburgh. Pienaar was fantastic in his attack but Edinburgh's problem was getting through Ulster's defense where it mattered.
Also, you're being a bit unfair to Edinburgh. That was a pretty damn impressive performance yesterday bar a few minor mistakes, many of those caused by one player, and it takes a pretty good team to beat Toulouse at home.
Posted 11:52 29th April 2012
crunchfit says...
@nabberuk
That balances out the yellow Terblanche got. Not to mention, Edinburgh committed quite a few penalties at their 22 when Ulster were putting them under pressure. Also quite a few penalties at the scrum.
Either Barnes loves Edinburgh, or dislikes Ulster, or a bit of both. Probably loves Edinburgh. He ignored their fouls and knock ons, etc. He even said that Ford "was just resting his arm" on Terblanche when he was holding his head in the ruck. The guy is an idiot regarding analysis and has a bias for many a team, why does he have to commentate on big games like these?
Posted 11:41 29th April 2012
pantreac says...
I really disagree with people like Tombomb above who appears to have a grudge against Falloon. Personally I thought that he played well. It was the whole of the Ulster team that appeared to lack the urgency required but fortunately for them Edinburgh couldn't capitalise on their 'good' possession. When a side can manage to win a match such as this it speaks volumes for the in depth charactor of that side!
Posted 11:07 29th April 2012
scot_rsa says...
Edinburgh still a work in progress but showed massive heart in an Irish cauldron, they played their own game and should be proud. Edinburgh really, really deserve better support and I hope this comes on the back of their achievements this year. Perhaps we can learn a thing or two from the wonderful Ulster fan base and capitalise on a small but growing rugby following in a football-mad country. Praise to Ulster's stars but Denton was immense for Edinburgh and Laidlaw's steal from Wannenburg! I'm not disheartened, only optimistic for the future.
Posted 07:54 29th April 2012
tombomb says...
god willie faloon was anonymous! anyway in my opinion ulster didn't commit enough men to the breakdown this made there defense good but allowed Edinburgh way to much possession and loads of go forward ball bad tactics when playing a team like Edinburgh. have to say though that it worked against Munster probably because Munster lacked good ball carrier's at the time. but that tactic will not be good enough to beat Leinster or Clermont.
Posted 06:46 29th April 2012
Ulsterman1999 says...
A great result for everyone involved in Ulster Rugby. Many congratulations.
It¿s amazing how far the club has progressed in such a short space of time. Inside two seasons the club has reached the pro12 semi-final, a European quarter final and now a European final. The club is now attracting some of the finest players in world rugby such as John Afoa, Johan Muller, Ruan Pienaar and Jared Payne.
The Ulster academy has produced players such as Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry and Daren Cave. More recently Craig Gilroy and Paddy Jackson have broken into the senior squad. These are players of real quality who will surely represent Ireland in the not too distant future.
Ravenhill rugby ground is to undergo major renovation. Inside the next few years its capacity is to increase to 18,000. A new coach is to arrive in June. The Accademy is to be headed by a European cup finalist!
Foundations are being put in place with the aim of producing one of the most successful sides in Europe. Ulster where not meant to get this far. They have exceeded all expectations. Very few sides beat the tigers by 34 points, very few sides beat Munster at home in Europe and very few sides reach a European final.
Some will say that Ulster where lucky today. I agree. On another day Edinburgh¿s passes would have went hand and Ulster would have bowed out of the competition. But Ulster held out. They had the mental toughness to see out a European semi-final. They played poorly and yet they won. They are gaining experience of top knock out rugby and more importantly learning how to cope with the big occasion.
Ulster Rugby is on the way up. I don¿t believe we're up with Leinster and Munster in the Irish pecking order. We¿re a long way from doing so. However we're closing the gap and closing it rapidly.
Posted 23:58 28th April 2012
jontheref says...
Not scoring when terblanche was off, and in fact conceding 3 did for Edinburgh.
Thought Ferris should have been binned for his slap of the ball, whilst on the ground.
But what can you expect from Poite, except inconsistency!
Posted 23:37 28th April 2012
papachinzo says...
Great match for a neutral and a great advertisement for the Celtic League, well done two both teams.
Unfortunately Edinburgh's success rate was too low for their high tempo game type, maybe if they had changed their game plan in the second half, things might have gone differently, this I suppose, was the factor that separated the men from the boys. Ulster looked flat and un-inspired for the whole game, but their class as a unit kept them in the running and eventually paid off.
Posted 22:08 28th April 2012
nabberuk says...
should ferris have got a yellow?
getting off lightly as per usual...
Posted 22:07 28th April 2012
DropZone62 says...
It's so odd how edinburgh could create so many chances, play such good attacking rugby, and CANNOT SCORE TRIES! whats happening lads?
Posted 22:06 28th April 2012
staph_glorious says...
makemehappy,
Ulster's scramble defense did the job. Were they "so comprehensively" outplayed, they'd have been similarly outscored.
Edinburgh controlled the tempo superbly, but they played at a pace beyond themselves. That's what contributed to the glut of their blunders, nothing divine. Sure, it looked great, but the errors were inevitable.
It was an even encounter, intriguing for its dichotomy of playing styles. Ulster looked that bit more assured on their limited possession. Neither side look a patch on tomorrow's contenders though.
Posted 21:07 28th April 2012
makemehappy says...
Having seen Edinburgh play like headless chickens for most of the year, anyone with half a brain knew that Ulster would run away with this game. On the day however, an entirely different story emerged. Ulster dominated the scrum, Pienaar kicked everything, and they got shat on in just about every other phase.
The most ardent Ulster supporter will now be thinking their name is on the trophy. To have been outplayed by Munster and then Edinburgh so comprehensively must suggest that the red hand does belong to god, and a few of his mates!
Common sense would tell Ulster fans to expect a hiding in the final. Who knows though.
Posted 19:51 28th April 2012
northampton32 says...
Edingburgh, Edingburgh so many chances, and then realizing your Scottish and knocking on...
Posted 19:50 28th April 2012
liam2me says...
One step towards an all-Irish final at Twickenham. 5 finalists in 7 year, 4 wins in 5 (possibly 5 wins in 6), just goes to show how strong Irish rugby is and how badly the national side squanders our talent. If the national side could play like the clubs then the 6 Nations would be Ireland + the also-rans.
Posted 19:49 28th April 2012