GUINNESS PRO14 RUGBY: Ulster suffer heavy loss at Scarlets

Ulster remain five points behind third placed Edinburgh in Conference B of the Guinness PRO14 after a disappointing second half performance in a 34-10 loss to Scarlets last night at Parc y Scarlets

It leaves Ulster in fourth place and out of the automatic European Champions Cup qualification places with five games remaining in the regular league season.

Ulster made the prefect start as Tommy Bowe created a try for centre Stuart McCloskey which scrum half John Cooney converted.

Dan Jones responded with a penalty for the home team on nine minutes when McCloskey failed to release in the tackle.

Nick Timoney had a try disallowed for obstruction in the build up and Ulster had to settle for a 7-3 lead at the break.

The Scarlets took the lead four minutes after the restart as the home side stretched the Ulster defence centre Paul Asquith spun the ball wide for winger Ioan Nicholas to go over in the corner and Jones converted.

Debutant Ryan Conbeer stunned the Ulster defence with a great individual try on 58 minutes, the 19 year old beat four Ulster defenders to score under the posts with Evans converting.

Jones created the Scarlets third try with a well judged kick which Asquith caught to touch down with the out half converting.

Nicholas thought he’d secured a the bonus point try from the restart but it was chalked off for a knock on in the build up.

Tadgh Beirne did seal maximum points for the Scarlets with a try three minutes from the end, he striopped Nick Timoney at the base of a scrum and rolled over the line with Jones converting.