Ulster go five from five with win over Glasgow

Adam Kyriacou
Add as a preferred source on Google

John Cooney led the way for Ulster with 15 points as they secured a 40-15 PRO14 bonus-point win over Glasgow Warriors on Monday.

The result saw the Irish province maintain their 100 per cent start to the season with five wins from five in a contest which saw them run in six tries.

Ulster wrapped up the bonus point by half-time after tries from John Andrew, Marcell Coetzee, Sam Carter and Cooney.

Sean Reidy and Matt Faddes then dotting down after the restart.

Click here for teams and scorers

Glasgow, who have won one in five games, scored tries in either half, the first from TJ Ioane and then a late effort from Grant Stewart.

Cooney also kicked five conversions from six attempts.

The Warriors stung Ulster early on with flanker Ioane getting over the Ulster line as the visitors started with venom, Peter Horne converting the fourth-minute try.

Ulster scored next through Andrew after a penalty had been put into the corner and the home side mauled over.

Cooney added the two points to ties things up after 11 minutes. Horne, though, was next to strike after Andrew conceded a breakdown penalty on 20 minutes, the Warriors fly-half hitting the target to nudge his side ahead again.

Their lead only lasted four minutes as after Robbie Fergusson was penalised for being offside, Ulster opted for the corner rather than the posts and, from the lineout, Coetzee powered over under the posts with help from Marty Moore and Kieran Treadwell.

Cooney slotted the straightforward conversion and Ulster led 14-10. Ioane then burst through after the restart but was hauled down short of the line by a combination of Michael Lowry and Coetzee.

The Warriors came close again when Sean Kennedy tapped and ran a penalty but was tackled short by Andrew and Lowry with the full-back winning a critical jackal penalty.

Four minutes before the break, Ulster had their third score and just after Carter had a score ruled out, he drove over from the following scrum after a Coetzee drive. Cooney made it three conversions from three and Ulster now led 21-10.

The bonus-point try was scored with the clock in red, and with Niko Matawalu in the bin for a deliberate knock-on. Cooney dived over after Ian Madigan had been held short. The Ulster scrum-half converted again to give the Irish province a 28-10 half-time lead.

Nine minutes after the restart, and just as the Warriors got Matawalu back on, Ulster had their fifth score when Lowry’s run helped set up Reidy who slid over in the corner.

The difficult conversion was missed by Cooney but Ulster now led 33-10 and he brought up the 40-point mark following try number six after Faddes hacked through.

Then with Lowry shown yellow for a deliberate knock-on, Stewart drove over though Horne missed the conversion.

Elsewhere, Lee-Roy Atalifo scored a debut try as an under-strength Edinburgh side emerged from the fog to beat Cardiff 18-0 at BT Murrayfield.

The Fiji prop and hooker David Cherry crossed the line in each half as the Edinburgh pack did the damage.

The fog made visibility extremely difficult for the majority of the second half but Edinburgh had built a commanding lead before the conditions deteriorated.

Richard Cockerill’s side lost their first three games of the PRO14 season before bouncing back to beat Scarlets last week and they made it a Welsh double as Cardiff Blues suffered a third consecutive defeat following their flying start to the campaign.

Cockerill was without nine players through injury while he had 13 players on international duty.

On top of that, fly-half Jaco van der Walt, who is set to join the Scotland set-up when he meets the residency criteria later this month, was back in his native South Africa getting married.

His stand-in, 20-year-old Nathan Chamberlain, opened the scoring with a seventh-minute penalty as Edinburgh started on the front foot.

Cardiff kept out some relentless attacks from the Edinburgh pack until former Jersey player Atalifo broke their resistance with a close-range try in the 25th minute. Chamberlain added the points with the boot.

Jason Tovey hit the post with a penalty just after the half-hour mark following Cardiff’s first real spell of pressure but Edinburgh otherwise maintained their discipline to keep the visitors at bay.

Early second-half pressure

The home side survived some early second-half pressure before extending their lead in the 54th minute.

Cherry had earned a starting place after his impressive performance off the bench in Llanelli saw him named in the PRO14 team of the week, and he vindicated his selection by going over following a line-out drive.

Chamberlain sliced his conversion wide just as the deep fog descended on the stadium.

Through the gloom, Edinburgh centre Mark Bennett was stopped in the corner as the home side looked to put the game out of sight, before the Blues rallied in the final 10 minutes.

Cardiff Blues full-back Hallam Amos had the chance to offload and send a team-mate beneath the posts but he attempted a dummy and was stopped in his tracks by opposite number Jack Blain.

Edinburgh number eight Ally Miller also produced a vital tackle to halt Owen Lane’s progress down the right wing before the home side saw out the final stages in the opposition half and Chamberlain kicked a penalty to close the contest.

 

Cardiff Rugby