Edinburgh v Ulster: Five takeaways as Springbok helps provide ‘perfect tonic’ to URC title hopefuls as ‘consistently inconsistent’ Scots crumble
Ulster number eight Juarno Augustus was named Player of the Match.
Following a 40-19 win for Ulster over Edinburgh in their rescheduled United Rugby Championship (URC) fixture, here’s our five takeaways from the game at Hive Stadium.
The top line
Ulster recovered from a 19-14 half-time deficit to run out handsome winners in Scotland as they gave their URC title hopes a shot in the arm in a hugely impressive showing.
Tries from Charlie Irvine, Juarno Augustus, Jake Flannery, Scott Wilson, Conor McKee and Ben Carson saw Richie Murphy’s charges to an invaluable five points on Friday.
Jack Murphy slotted 10 points as this victory slingshots Ulster from sixth up to second position, level on points with Leinster and four adrift of pace-setters Glasgow Warriors.
Edinburgh’s tries came via Ross Thompson, Harry Paterson and Wes Goosen, but they were all posted before the half-hour as they leaked 26 unanswered points in a shocker.
Vital win for Ulster
After a loss at Ospreys last time out, Ulster desperately needed this victory, and five points is the perfect tonic that thrusts them right back in the race for top spot in the URC.
They have been a joy to watch for some time now, and while Edinburgh hit the ground running early on this evening, Ulster did not panic and slowly ground down their hosts, showing impressive confidence and belief in their game despite injury setbacks to see off an Edinburgh team that looked desperately short on answers on how to stop them.
26 unanswered points from minute 30 to the end is outstanding from Ulster on the road, and they will take massive confidence from this win and performance, putting early ill-discipline behind them to give themselves a fantastic opportunity of claiming a home play-off further down the track. It is another massive step in their journey together.
It’s worth noting that Ulster (41) have now surpassed last season’s meagre 38-point return in the league. If that is not a reflection of excellent progress, we don’t know what is.
Same old frustrations for Edinburgh
In stark contrast, Edinburgh. Where next for Sean Everitt and his disappointed troops? This is now their eighth loss from 12 league matches as they remain in 12th position.
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As mentioned, they were fantastic early on, setting the tempo and crossing three times inside the opening half-hour, but thereafter they didn’t fire a shot and simply went into their shells, which is both a credit to Ulster but also symptomatic of Edinburgh’s campaign to date. Put simply, they are consistently inconsistent right now as pressure mounts.
Conor McKee
Talk about a calming presence. The 24-year-old scrum-half stepped up admirably after emerging after just two minutes for the injured David Shanahan. McKee was ultra-solid and calm at the base, took the correct decisions, provided a wonderful try assist for Augustus and was later rewarded with the match-sealing fifth crossing on 69 minutes.
Ulster were minus Nathan Doak tonight due to Ireland commitments, and the departure of Shanahan so early in the piece was a concern, but it needn’t have been. Excellent.
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Springbok takes top gong
The Player of the Match award could have gone to any number of Ulster players tonight, as from 1-23 they were rock solid and contributed to this triumph in their own way.
Cormac Izuchukwu was outstanding and sent a reminder to Ireland head coach Andy Farrell of his qualities, while Zac Ward did likewise with another all-action performance. The aforementioned McKee was also impressive at nine, but the public vote fell the way of Augustus, who gave a typical Augustus shift with carries galore that made inroads.
He will hope that more Springbok recognition comes his way later this year, and leading Ulster to the business end of the URC would certainly help the forward’s case no end.