Celtic League/ Glasgow 8 Ulster 19: With Ulster's Heineken European Cup hopes all but extinguished, Mark McCall's side's re-adjusted target is clear: retaining the Magners Celtic League title.
And while that goal looks a daunting one, with just 11 points separating the top six and a number of those still having games in hand, the reigning champions demonstrated the kind of rude health on Saturday night to suggest they will be right in the mix at the business end in May.
Even the failure to clinch the bonus point despite a number of gilt-edged chances in the final 10 minutes failed to dampen the visitors' spirits as they departed into a cold and damp Glasgow evening.
Leinster's five-point victory over the Ospreys later that night cut Ulster's lead at the top of the table to two points with both sides having played 12 games. But coach McCall was still delighted the glint had returned to the eyes of his players.
Brilliantly and ruthlessly executed tries by Rory Best, Neil Best and Tommy Bowe, with Paddy Wallace, standing in for the injured David Humphreys, making a telling input into two of them, showed Ulster had finally emerged from the cloud that has hung over them since the European Cup defeat to London Irish at the Madejski Stadium in December.
"It was important for us to win tonight and to win away from home again," said McCall. "But also to do it in the manner that we did was hugely satisfying.
"We also played some fine rugby, I thought. We put together some fine passing movements and scored a couple of wonderful tries and could have scored a couple more."
Not even the early loss of Isaac Boss, with a suspected A/C joint shoulder injury, disrupted Ulster's step.
Kieran Campbell, champing at the bit for so long as Boss's understudy, played superbly alongside Wallace, resuming the half-back pairing that took Ireland under-19s to their World Cup triumph in 1998.
With Ulster's lineout reigning supreme, and the home side coughing up free-kick after free-kick at scrum time, the visitors were able to soak up early pressure from Glasgow at the start of both halves and then, like a champion boxer, land killer punches from nowhere.
The first try said everything about Ulster's bold attitude. Having struggled to get out of their 22 for much of the first quarter, the visitors attacked the blindside from a scrum deep inside their own half, with Campbell releasing Bowe, who set off on the first of a number of scorching breaks. Wallace kept the move flowing, and showing great pace to attack the scrambling defence, eventually offloaded to hooker Rory Best who scampered under the posts.
Ulster were unfortunate not to stretch their lead in first-half injury-time when what looked to be a try-scoring pass by Matt McCullough to Bowe was harshly adjudged to have been forward.
The home side managed to reduce their arrears with a Dan Parks penalty just after the restart but having seen their efforts continually undone by errors in the danger zone, Ulster settled the contest with two tries in four minutes.
First Neil Best was driven over from a lineout, then a dazzling counter-attack from inside their own 22, started by the promising wing Paul McKenzie who released Wallace for another devastating surge, culminated in Bowe racing over.
A late touchdown by Glasgow prop Andy Newman didn't spoil the visitors' celebrations.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 15 mins: R Best try, P Wallace con, 0-7; 44: D Parks pen, 3-7; 59: N Best try, 3-12; 63: T Bowe try, Wallace con, 3-19; 79: A Newman try, 8-19.
GLASGOW: C Gregor; R Lamont, H O'Hare, A Henderson, T Evans; D Parks, G Beveridge; J Va'a, F Thomson, E Murray, D Turner, A Kellock, A Wilson, J Barclay, J Beattie. Replacements: S Pinder for Beveridge (40 mins), J Eddie for Beattie (52 mins), K Tkachuk for Murray (56 mins), E Milligan for Thomson (60 mins), S Swindall for Wilson, A Newman for Turner (both 64 mins), S Barrow for Parks (67 mins).
ULSTER: M Bartholomeusz; T Bowe, A Trimble, K Maggs, P McKenzie; P Wallace, I Boss; B Young, R Best, S Best, J Harrison, M McCullough, N Best, K Dawson, R Wilson. Replacements: K Campbell for Boss (4 mins), P Steinmetz for Maggs (53 mins), J Fitzpatrick for Young, T Barker for McCullough (both 60 mins), N McMillan for Dawson (70 mins)
Referee: J James(WRU).
