Ulster breezed past Glasgow Warriors overcoming them 37-17 at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday.
The province have moved up to fifth in the table with a bonus point win thanks to tries from Tommy Bowe, Sean Reidy, Jacob Stockdale (2) and Ruan Pienaar.
Glasgow’s replies came through Brandon Thomson and two late scores from Scott Cummings as they looked for a losing bonus point.
Ulster’s Pienaar slotted a penalty from distance to give his side a three-point lead, before wing Bowe profited from a sustained spell of Ulster pressure by dotting down in the corner for an unconverted try.
Ulster extended their lead when scrum-half Pienaar picked up from a ruck to supply a reverse pass to flanker Reidy to reach for the line at arms length.
Once the television match official had judged the ball to have reached the line, Pienaar made it 15-0 from the tee.
Just as Glasgow were looking to have drawn a blank in the first-half, they made their numbers pay on the left wing with the final play of the half when full-back Thomson scored an unconverted try.
Replacement back Stockdale added the hosts’ third try of the afternoon when he collected a pass while running a brilliant line through the Glasgow defence to score under the posts, making Pienaar’s third conversion attempt a formality.
As Glasgow looked for a reply, the quick thinking of Pienaar saw him regain possession with an interception inside his own 22 before sprinting clear.
Following a few passes, the scrum-half then collected the ball in the Warriors’ 22 to finish off a dazzling counter-attacking move and make it 30-5, sealing the bonus point.
Despite a numerical disadvantage with Rob Hurley in the sin bin, Glasgow continued to press for a losing bonus point as Cummings pounced on a grubber for his side’s second unconverted try of the afternoon.
Moments later, Cummings had his second in four minutes having powered through the tackles to reach the line. Thomson added the extras to take his side within 13 points of the hosts.
A second try for Ulster’s Stockdale with an excellent individual score halted the chance of a Glasgow comeback. The centre reclaimed his chip past the defence before stepped past the fullback to dot down, allowing Pienaar to convert for the final score of the game.
The scorers:
For Ulster:
Tries: Bowe, Reidy, Stockdale 2, Pienaar
Cons: Pienaar 3
Pens: Pienaar 2
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Thomson, Cummings
Cons: Thomson
Ulster: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Darren Cave, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Peter Nelson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Marcel Coetzee, 7 Chris Henry (c), 6 Sean Reidy, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Pete Browne, 3 Ricky Lutton, 2 John Andrew, 1 Callum Black
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Robbie Diack, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Jacob Stockdale, 23 Jack Owens
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Brandon Thomson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Nick Grigg, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Peter Horne, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Brian Alainu’uese, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 James Malcolm,1 Alex Allan
Replacements: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Tjiuee Uanivi, 20 Lewis Wynne, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Richie Vernon, 23 Rory Hughes
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Wayne Davies (Wales), Paul Haycock (Ireland)
TMO: Tim Hayes (Wales)
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