MAGNERS LEAGUE Cardiff Blues 15 Ulster 37:CRAIG GILROY grabbed a sensational brace of tries on his Ulster debut to inspire his side to a 37-15 bonus-point win
Ulster had not beaten Cardiff in seven games, their last victory over the Welsh club coming in 2006. That look set to continue when Brian McLaughlin’s men went in 15-8 down at the interval.
But Ulster roared back with a devastating second-half blitz, scoring 29 unanswered points to blow the hosts away.
It was Ulster’s first win in four games and lifts the province into third in the Magners League.
With only a handful of academy games under his belt 19-year-old Craig Gilroy was pleased to have taken the chance on his senior debut.
Gilroy initiated the comeback adding to his first-half try with a sublime second. Adam D’Arcy grabbed a try of his own as Ulster scored 15 points in three minutes. Willie Faloon clinched the vital bonus-point try with 10 minutes to go before Paddy Wallace capped off a devastating second-half display.
Gilroy said: “I’m delighted with the win. I wanted to go out and prove myself and make sure I didn’t screw up on my debut. To get two tries is a big bonus.
“When you have wingers like Simon Danielli and Andrew Trimble it’s difficult to get involved and I’m just over-the-moon to have played well.”
Cardiff opened the scoring when Casey Laulala touched-down. Ceri Sweeny converted.
But Ulster almost instantly struck back with a try. Cardiff failed to deal with a Humphreys kick and were turned-over close to the line. The ball was spread wide and Diack offloaded to Gilroy who rounded covering Cardiff prop Filise to squeeze into the corner.
Humphreys failed with the conversion attempt but soon made amends with a penalty to put the Ulstermen in front.
Cardiff could have scored shortly after the half hour mark but D’Arcy stretched a hand out to block Czekaj’s pass to Tom James. D’Arcy was given his marching orders by George Clancy, Sweeney slotted the penalty and the hosts soon took advantage of the extra man when James scored to give them a 15-8 lead at the interval.
Humphreys pulled Ulster within four points with his second penalty on 58 minutes and just moments later Gilroy grabbed a second try to take the lead.
The flyer latched onto a kick and stepped inside Czekaj and Sweeney to score.
Just one minute later D’Arcy made amends for his earlier indiscretion with a try after tearing down the left wing.
With 70 minutes on the clock replacement backrow Faloon grabbed a crucial bonus-point try after a blindside snipe by Marshall before Wallace added the fifth.
CARDIFF BLUES: C Czekaj; R Mustoe, C Laulala, D Hewitt, T James, C Sweeny (G Davies 71), T Slater; T Filise, T R Thomas (G Williams 67), S Andrews, James Down (B Griffiths 19), Paul Tito (capt), M Paterson, M Molitika, X Rush (B White 30).
ULSTER: A D'Arcy; C Gilroy, N Spence (A Trimble 46), I Whitten (P Wallace 46), S Danielli; I Humphreys, P Marshall (I Porter 76); P McAllister (B Young 50), N Brady (A Kyriacou 71), BJ Botha (G Cronin 72), J Muller (capt, T Barker 35), D Tuohy, P Wannenburg, R Diack (W Faloon 47), C Henry.
Referee: George Clancy(Ireland).
