Ulster close campaign with tough night in Edinburgh

The seven-try-to-three loss in the Scottish capital was Ulster’s 11th across 18 URC games as the side posted their lowest-ever league finish.

Both teams had wasted chances in the opposition ‘22’ before Edinburgh winger Darcy Graham got the game’s opening try on 10 minutes.

Jack Murphy’s aimless kick down the line allowed home full back Wes Goosen to start a counter-attack inside his own half and cut in-field before off-loading to Graham.

The Scottish speedster raced through a gap and nobody in the Ulster defence could catch him as he headed under the posts. Out half Ross Thompson converted.

The home side’s second try came eight minutes later as the pack had a series of pick-and-goes close to the line before skipper Mangus Bradbury smashed his way through Ulster’s half back combination of Nathan Doak and Murphy to get over the whitewash - but Thompson was unsuccessful with the conversion.

Ulster opened their account on 25 minutes with a penalty try.

Following their first sustained pressure in the Edinburgh ‘22’, camped on the line, Doak fed Stuart McCloskey, the centre offloaded to Murphy, the out half spun the ball wide and Zac Ward would have had a walk-in try but Graham’s attempted intercept was adjudged as a deliberate knock, gifting Ulster seven points and the home winger 10 minutes in the sin bin.

Werner Kok managed to profit from a mistake in the home defence to level the scores four minutes later. Ulster moved the ball in midfield before Murphy put a kick in behind, Goosen failed to deal with it, allowing Kok to pick up the ball and get over the line for an unconverted try.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Edinburgh got their third try on 34 minutes. From a scrum penalty, they kicked to the corner and off the lineout the forwards set up a maul.

Hooker Ewan Ashman broke off the back and smashed through some weak tackling in the Ulster defence to touch down as Thompson’s conversion gave Edinburgh a 19-12 half-time lead.

Bradbury got his second try on 52 minutes to wrap up Edinburgh’s bonus point, powering over from close range after a quick tap penalty, Thompson adding the conversion.

Prop Pierre Schoeman added another try for the home side, again, the Edinburgh forwards battered the Ulster line before the loose head prop got over, with Thompson adding the extras.

Ulster finally registered second-half points after failing to score after the break in their previous two games as centre Jude Postlewaite went all the way from his own ‘22’ to score a superb solo try with eight minutes remaining.

Graham got his second try on 76 minutes, punishing a mistake in the Ulster defence, replacement out half Ben Healy converted.

Graham completed his hat-trick, finishing off a sweeping move with the clock in the red and Healy was again on target with the conversion.

EDINBURGH: W Goosen; D Graham, M Currie, J Lang, H Paterson; R Thompson, A Price; P Schoeman, E Ashman, D Rae; M Sykes, S Skinner; B Muncaster, H Watson, M Bradbury (captain).

Replacements: P Harrison for Ashman 60 mins, R Hislop for Schoeman 75 mins, J Sebastian for Rae64 mins, G Young for Skinner 75 mins, J Ritchie for Muncaster 49 mins, C Shiel for Price 73 minutes, B Healy for Thompson 73 mins, M Bennett for Lang 68 mins

ULSTER: M Lowry; W Kok, J Postlethwaite, S McCloskey, Z Ward; J Murphy, N Doak; A Warwick, R Herring, T O’Toole; K Treadwell, I Henderson (capt); C Izuchukwu, N Timoney, D McCann

Replacements: T Stewart for Herring 56 mins, C Reid for Warwick 46 mins, S Wilson for O’Toole 55 mins, H Sheridan for Henderson 65 mins, J McNabney for Treadwell 61 mins, D Shanahan for Doak 56 mins , A Morgan for Murphy 62 mins, S Moore for Ward 56 mins

Referee: C Evans (WRU).