Ulster 17 The Borders 13: Ulster may have leapfrogged Connacht in the Celtic League but there was little to cheer at Ravenhill last night. Ulster scraped home against a side that have never won on the road but the four-try bonus point proved comfortably elusive.
The Borders came close to causing an upset, having twice held the lead and enjoyed sustained spells of pressure during the second half as Ulster defended their slim advantage in the final quarter after Campbell Feather had been driven over from a close-range maul.
The home side had, particularly in the first half, plenty of opportunities to put the Borders to the sword. But a lack of precision, a lacklustre tempo and a profligacy at the breakdown combined to allow the Borders to cling to Ulster's coat tails.
Ulster's David Humphreys missed two penalties and a drop-goal and never demonstrated the kind of control the Ravenhill faithful would have expected.
The first half set the tone of the contest. Ulster enjoyed the lion's share of possession and territory but lacked enough go-forward ball and precision to convert it into a sizeable lead.
Indeed their lack of a cutting edge and composure was highlighted by the fact that despite playing against 14 men for 20 minutes as Chris Cusiter and then Bruce Douglas were shown yellow cards, Ulster went into first-half injury time trailing 6-3.
The home side claimed the lead on the stroke of half-time when Paul Steinmetz's cross-kick saw the Borders defence outflanked and Ulster captain Andy Ward grounded the ball after it bounced over the line.
With Humphreys holding his hamstring, Steinmetz landed the touchline conversion for a four-point lead.
The Borders had opened the scoring with a penalty by centre Charlie Hore in the third minute.Ulster continued to press, with Tommy Bowe finding a hole, but the eagerness to play a wide game was not always matched with directness or precision.
A driving maul almost brought a try for Ulster, but they had to settle for a Humphreys penalty in the 16th minute after Cusiter was shown a yellow card for playing the ball in an offside position. The Borders were fortunate not to concede a penalty try.
The home crowd of 7,107 were stunned when Alistair Warnock landed a drop-goal before Ward's touchdown.
Cusiter however was able to reclaim the lead for the visitors, who dominated the third quarter, with a 62nd-minute try. And although Feather's try restored Ulster's lead, the big push never materialised.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 3 mins: C Hore pen, 0-3; 16 mins: D Humphreys pen, 3-3; 34 mins: A Warnock drop-goal, 3-6; 40 mins: A Ward try, P Steinmetz con, 10-6; 62 mins: C Cusiter try, Hore con, 10-13; 65 mins: C Feather try, Steinmetz con, 17-13.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, K Maggs, P Steinmetz, T Howe (A Maxwell 79 mins); D Humphreys, K Campbell; R McCormack, P Shields, S Best, G Longwell, M McCullough (T Barker 52 mins), A Ward, N Best (C Feather 8 mins), R Wilson.
THE BORDERS: S Moffat; S Danielli, C MacRae, C Hore, M Walker; A Warnock, C Cusiter; P Thomson (T McGee 65 mins), R Ford (S Scott 71 mins), B Douglas, M Blair, C Stewart, J Dalziel, A Millar, K Brown.
Yellow cards: C Cusiter: 15-25 mins; B Douglas 26-36 mins.
Referee: P Fear (WRU).
