Ulster v Glasgow: Five takeaways as ‘tension-packed’ contest settled by late Warriors try that leaves hosts on the brink
Glasgow's George Horne and, inset, Ulster's Zac Ward were two of the standout players in Belfast on Friday night (INPHO/Paul Currie and Ryan Byrne)
Following Glasgow’s late, late 26-22 win over Ulster in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at Affidea Stadium on Friday, Planet Rugby picks out five takeaways from the tension-packed action.
The top line
This was an intriguing regular-season final-round clash of teams chasing very different rewards. First place Glasgow wanted the No.1 seed for the quarter-finals and home advantage for the play-offs while Ulster were just simply looking to make the top eight and qualify.
It meant the Warriors arrived with a stacked line-up and that power was ultimately just about enough for them to secure a narrow win over an Ulster side that pulled its punches selection-wise by making 10 changes to its starting XV with a view to next weekend’s Challenge Cup final in Bilbao.
Despite the Irish team’s rousing comeback from a 21-12 interval deficit, a 76th-minute try from Kyle Rowe in the corner settled the URC result in favour of the table-topping Scots. The consolation for Ulster was that their two bonus points left them in eighth place, one point ahead of the ninth-place Munster who host the Lions in Limerick on Saturday.
If the South African’s don’t do them a favour, the European showpiece will become Ulster’s lifeline for Investec Champions Cup qualification next season as they will slip out of the top eight, robbing them of qualification via the league as well as missing out on the end-of-the-month quarter-finals.
With Sione Tuipulotu leading the charge and generally skittling people on the carry, it was apt that it was his eighth-minute pass that invited Stafford McDowall to cut the cunning line that left Nick Timoney grasping air on the 22 and opened an unguarded corridor to the try line.
Whereas Glasgow were picking up from where they left off when hammering Cardiff at home at Scotstoun, Ulster initially struggled for cohesion but they enjoyed some wonderful 19th-minute nourishment against the run of play when, from nothing, Zac Ward cut loose from halfway and showed his sevens-game wheels and weaved through the cover to score.
Glasgow still had a two-point lead with the conversion missed, but with Nathan McBeth yellow carded for shouldering the head of Bryn Ward on kick-off receipt, a man-down change had materialised which they competently negotiated. If anything, they should have scored during this period, but stubbornness from their forwards resulted in a hold-up over the line instead of the backs getting the ball.
Then, restored to 15, Glasgow were mugged when Dan Lancaster threw a rash looping pass in the opposition 22 that was fastened onto by Ward ahead of Rowe and he ran all the way from there for a converted try. Home fan celebrations were very short-lived, though, as Glasgow put width on the ball and were soon back in front with McBeth’s converted try.
Not only that, they crucially scored again right on the stroke of the interval. George Horne threw a dummy at a ruck and this deception saw him make it over for his team’s third converted try and a 21-12 half-time lead that was unforeseen in the wake of the second Ward score.
With Connacht winning at Edinburgh to push Ulster out of the top eight, Richie Murphy made three SOS half-time substitutions, Angus Bell, Cormac Izuchukwu and Nathan Doak, and a yellow card to Josh McKay for head contact gave them another 10 minutes with a man advantage to remedy their awkward situation.
They again failed to score a man up, but Michael Lowry’s lovely kick got Ethan McIlroy in for a 59th minute try to cut the deficit to 21-17 and the atmosphere now became electric. It then ratcheted up further nine minutes later when Bryn Ward, with a sublime out-of-the-contact pass, put in sub Jack Murphy for the lead-taking unconverted try.
Cue celebratory Ulster bedlam followed by an anxious finale where the visiting Rowe struck for the decisive score four minutes from time. That left Glasgow elated and the home side crushed that a half-line obstruction on Bryn Ward wasn’t deemed to be foul play on TMO review.
Talisman Horne
No one should underestimate the value of this Glasgow victory. While Belfast was the venue for their most famous day ever – the 2015 PRO12 final win over Munster – they had not beaten Ulster at Ravenhill since September 2013, so the fact they saw it out so very late on was testament to their determination to succeed this season no matter the odds against them.
With the Stormers losing at Cardiff, Glasgow would still have finished the night in the No.1 spot if they had lost 22-21, but they knew this outcome would leave the door open to third-place Leinster to overtake them on Saturday.
That was why their response to come back and win in a cauldron atmosphere, turning two points into five in the blink of an eye with an attack from halfway, was so impressive. At the core of this victory was scrum-half Horne, a player who was sorely missed in recent times by the Scots.
The scrum-half was injured in the early April round of 16 win over the Bulls in the Champions Cup and was missing from the hat-trick losses to Toulon, the Lions and the Stormers, but his return last week was at the heart of their hammering of Cardiff and he got his team ticking again.
He was again so important in Belfast, especially in the opening half when building a nine-point lead that included his own smartly taken try as well as three conversion kicks. It was a top-notch 11-point contribution and great to see him back on song so soon after his injury.
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Wounding Ulster weakness
Ulster coach Murphy rolled the dice and lost in Belfast. Having gone as full strength as possible to defeat Exeter in the Challenge Cup semi-final and then draw with Stormers in the URC, he plumed for a greatly altered line-up against Glasgow and paid the horrible price of a cruel loss that now has them teed up to finish outside the URC top eight if Munster overhaul them on Saturday.
It was their second successive gut-wrenching denouement to a match. Last weekend, a last-gasp penalty try denied them a win over the Stormers, and this time round they relinquished the lead with four minutes to go and were left unhappy by a couple of late calls that went against them.
The benefit of hindsight will tell them in the cold light of day that they only have themselves to blame, however. They failed to score a single point during the 20-minute spell that Glasgow had with two players yellow-carded, and the way they were defensively swamped in the closing minutes of the opening half was not a good look for their defence.
They had jumped into a 12-7 lead against the run of play heading towards the break, but they failed to protect that lead and were left exiting for the shed 21-12 in arrears. Murphy didn’t hesitate to start running his strong bench for the start of the second half and he was rewarded with a brazen push for a 22-21 lead coming down the finishing straight.
However, as was the case in the first half and again last week versus Stormers, they lacked the composure to see out the result. It’s a wounding weakness that must be fixed if they are to win the club’s first trophy in 20 years in next Friday’s cup final.
Epic Ward
Despite the anguishing defeat, one area of Ulster’s team fully deserving of kudos was their back three of Lowry, Zac Ward and Werner Kok, the only combination in the side retained from the Stormers draw. This trio accounted for five of their team’s six tries last weekend and while they weren’t as prolific on this occasion, the two solo tries scored by Ward were epic.
Having honed his skills on the sevens circuit and represented Ireland at the Paris Olympics in 2024, his successful transition to the 15s code highlights how the IRFU might have got it wrong pulling the plug on its men’s seven programme. A few more Ward-like talents wouldn’t go amiss in the Irish game.
Lowry was excellent in helping Ulster get back in Friday night’s match and his kicked assist for the McIlroy try was a thing of beauty. We also must mention Kok, whose departure from the Irish club was confirmed earlier in the day. The South African has proven a tremendous value for money buy in his two seasons in Belfast, and his talent won’t be long in getting snapped up elsewhere.
Fortuitous development
Jack Dempsey wasn’t originally listed to play at all at Ulster, but the late withdrawal of Matt Fagerson turned out not to be a blow for Franco Smith’s side. The Scottish back row international only played about 54 minutes of the match at the Affidea, but he was immense in what he contributed on both sides of the ball, especially in attack with Glasgow dominating for most of the opening half.
His excellence was a fortuitous development in contrast to Ulster’s back row selection call, which was leaving Juarno Augustus out of the matchday squad after he had won player of the match in their previous two games.
The South African was certainly missed in a bruising encounter where fellow back-rower Timoney, who was captain in the absence of the suspended Iain Henderson, was credited with making 31 tackles. That was enormous, and it went some way towards making amends for the slip that gave Glasgow their first score.
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