Ulster become the first, and hopefully not the last, Irish province to qualify for the last eight of the Heineken Cup, with a 23-6 win over Glasgow at Ravenhill.
The scoreline suggests a comfortable enough night for the Ulster men but the passage of Mark Anscombe’s men tonight was anything but.
A miserable night in Belfast, with driving rain for almost the entire 80 minutes, made conditions brutally tough for the players, especially the kickers.
Ulster took the lead through a typically bruising drive by Nick Williams but the home side were never able to pull away. Ruan Pienaar was running the show but even he was struggling in the conditions. Glasgow’s Duncan Weir dropped one penalty attempt short and despite some sloppy play, Ulster held Glasgow scoreless at the break, 10-0.
Weir eventually nailed one eight minutes into the second half and seven minutes later he landed another to narrow the gap to just four.
At this point, the Scots were on top and to compound their problems, Paddy Jackson limped off injured. Pienaar slotted over a nerve-steadying penalty but then Williams went off injured too.
Pienaar dragged an easy penalty shot wide before Ulster finally grabbed some breathing space when Jared Payne crossed the line with seven minutes left.
A Darren Cave try near the end sealed the win but even without the cushion of the bonus point, Ulster made it through as Northampton only managed a non-bonus point win over Castres in their game.
That left Ulster on 19 points, clear at the top of Pool 4 by five points. A win against Castres next week will get Ulster a home quarter-final.
So progress is assured. Let’s hope the other Irish provinces can do the same.
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