RUGBY: A one-man show by Kiwi Paul Steinmetz allowed Ulster a chance to defend their Celtic Cup title after they had great difficulty in despatching Llanelli at Ravenhill last night.
The little midfield general scored the only try of the game and his trusty left boot contributed the rest of the points in the final Celtic League game for both sides.
The victory put Ulster beyond Cardiff, and, more importantly, Connacht, who face the Dragons today in Galway. It was an emotional send-off for Andy Ward, in what could be his last game at Ravenhill. Along with Matt McCullough he contributed to Ulster's success. However, it was a muted Ulster, who never really clicked in the first half.
Llanelli were much more organised and clued in against a ragged Ulster side whose early penalty advantage by Steinmetz was equalised by a similar effort by Gareth Bowen. One piece of positive play by Scott Young allowed Steinmetz to rattle over a second penalty in the 27th minute, but there was still little continuity evident from either side.
At least Ulster began to put pressure on their opponents at the end of a nondescript first half and Steinmetz stroked over his third penalty to give Ulster a laboured 9-3 interval lead.
Defences were again in the ascendancy at the start of the second half, but Gary Longwell let a punch slip through from Scarlets prop John Davies who was promptly yellow carded in the 47th minute. But it was the Scarlets who forced the pace with replacement outhalf Aled Thomas twice missing easy penalty chances.
A try never looked likely until the 67th minute when Steinmetz saw a gap and his strength took him over out wide. He converted to put Ulster in the driving seat. He missed two late penalties, but by then he had sealed victory.
ULSTER: B Cunningham, T Bowe, K Maggs, P Steinmetz, S Young, P Wallace, K Campbell, S Best, P Shields, R Moore, G Longwell, M McCullough, A Ward, G Pfister, R Wilson. Replacements: N Doak for Campbell (40 mins), A Larkin for Wallace (80 mins), A Maxwell for Young (40 mins), R Frost for Longwell (78 mins), C Feather for Pfister (65 mins).
Scorers: Steinmetz, try, conversion, three penalties.
LLANELLI SCARLETS: B Davies; G Evans, T Selley, S Thomas, L Byrne; G Bowen, M Phillips; P John, M Rees, J Davies, V Cooper, A Jones, S Easterby (capt) A Powell, J Mills. Replacements: C Wyatt for Powell (70 mins), I Boobyer, D Peel for Phillips (58 mns), A Thomas for Bowen (53 mins).
Scorers: P Bowen, pen.
Jonny Wilkinson launched his comeback in trademark fashion with a penalty within three minutes of his return to action last night. The England outhalf - sidelined since aggravating a knee injury at Harlequins last month - landed a 37th-minute penalty to give Newcastle a 9-6 lead at Northampton. Wilkinson came on in 34th minute after Michael Stephenson limped off following a heavy tackle.
Wilkinson added a second penalty after 40 minutes as Newcastle trailed 20-12 and after the break converted Jamie Noon's try on 44 minutes for 20-19, and another penalty on 66 minutes. However, Northampton's Shane Drahm sealed victory, 23-22, with a penalty.
