Johannesburg — The Emirates Lions were brought back to earth by a determined and street-smart Ulster in their United Rugby Championship encounter at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday.
A 10-minute blitz, which started in the 38th minute and netted Ulster 19 points, swung the encounter the way of the Irish giants. It was during this period that Henco van Wyk served a costly 10-minutes in the sin-bin for a failed intercept attempt, and the wily Ulster side made good use of that numerical advantage.
They kept the ball tight in those instances, sucking up defenders in the process, and then moved their possession out wide into the acres of space left open by Van Wyk’s departure in the backline.
They also started off the better of the two sides.
Ulster opened the scoring as early as the second minute, an easy run-in for wing Robert Baloucoune, after he looked up to see two Lions front-rowers in front of him. He proceeded to split them open, leaving the Lions' defence chasing grass cuttings in his wake.
The visitors would take an early 10-3 thereafter as Gianni Lombard and scrumhalf John Cooney traded penalties. The clash was ebbing and flowing at this time, with the Lions mostly on the back foot.
Nevertheless, they would strike back through Francke Horn, against the run of play, due to the quick-thinking Emmanuel Tshituka. The flank snaffled up a loose ball at the breakdown in the Lions' half, releasing Horn and Co to gallop towards the tryline.
Tshituka would be involved again moments later, after a prolonged spell of pressure in the Ulster 22, smashing his way over the whitewash. The visitors, however, would strike back in the last five minutes, finishing the half with Billy Burn taking advantage of that 14-man defence.
With Van Wyk sitting in the bleachers, Ulster continued that momentum with a brisk, early score in the second half, wing Robert Lyttle cantering in for an easy score and a 22-18 lead.
A brilliant 50:22 by fullback Michael Lowry put the Ulstermen in a prime position to score their second try of the half, and although the resulting line-out was sloppy, centre Stuart McCloskey was alive to the situation, collected the ball and crashed over.
There was further pain five minutes later, as Ulster utilised their powerful maul, hooker Rob Herring registering their fifth try. Now 36-18 down, the Joburgers needed something special in the last quarter of the match.
And it came first through Andries Coetzee, scoring his second try in as many games; and then a brilliant team effort that went through slick hands, Quan Horn finishing off the effort.
Ulster seemed to have stitched up the encounter with five minutes remaining with a penalty, but a desperate line-break by the Joburgers, now chucking the ball with abandon, accounted for Francke Horn scoring his second try of the match, much to the jubilation of the Ellis Park faithful.
A nervy two minutes for Ulster followed, and with the help of some sloppy game management from Coetzee and then a poor line-out from the Lions, they held out for a narrow win.
Point-scorers
Lions (18) 37 — Tries: F Horn (2), Tshituka, Coetzee, Q Horn; Conversions: Lombard, Hendrikse; Penalties: Lombard (3); Yellow Card: Van Wyk
Ulster (15) 39 — Tries: Baloucoune; Burns, Lyttle, McCloskey, Herring; Conversions: Cooney (4); Penalties: Cooney, Doak
IOL Sport