SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS

Glasgow bullied then beaten
IAIN MORRISON AT FIRHILL
GLASGOW 18

ULSTER 27


ULSTER remain on course to lift the Celtic League title after beating Glasgow at Firhill yesterday evening. Their vocal and enthusiastic support even lent the match some much-needed atmosphere and the stupidest comment of the evening came from the match announcer who asked the visiting fans to sit down.

As ever, the classy Test fly-half David Humphreys was the catalyst for much of Ulster's best work and his five penalties eventually proved the difference between two sides which both scored a pair of tries and one conversion.

Glasgow were hapless and hopeless in an embarrassing first half but improved dramatically after the break when the introduction of several young players gave warning that many older heads are living on borrowed time. The difference between the first and second 40 was light and day but, in fairness, with a 15-point lead at the break, Ulster had things well in hand.

Glasgow closed the gap to just six points with two touchdowns in the second half but that was as close as it got. Asked if the young substitutes had been the difference head coach Sean Lineen concurred. "That was part of it," he conceded after the match. "I am using the games that I have in charge to have a look at some of the players. John Beattie played very well when he came on and Ben Prescott scrummaged well."

Lineen also conceded that it was always going to be difficult to deflect such a powerful squad from their target of winning the league. "I was very proud of my guys who got stuck in in the second half and scored two good tries."

Ulster nosed ahead after just three minutes when Humphreys gave them a three-point lead with an early penalty for obstruction and the visitors were never headed thereafter.

Ulster's two tries both came in the first half and both came from similar circumstances. From an attacking lineout in Glasgow's red zone, the Irish side drove the ball and scrum-half Issac Boss nipped around the blind side and somehow stretched out an arm for the score, the Glasgow defenders reacting with all the awareness of shop window dummies. Second row Justin Harrison grabbed the second touchdown for Ulster just before the break when the visiting forwards marched a maul, again from a lineout, over the home line without much ado.

Parks did pull back three points for the home team when a rare period of pressure on the Ulster line drew one of the visitors offside and allowed the fly-half to kick the only Glasgow points of the first half.

All too often Glasgow's basic skills let them down. One pass from Pinder didn't get within two yards of its intended recipient. One lineout tap was fired at the scrum-half's feet and from the resulting scrum the Glasgow front row was penalised. Ulster fullback Bryn Cunningham was allowed to collect his own high kick without so much as a challenge from a blue and black shirt, and another Garryowen was allowed to bounce by the watching home players. One penalty to Ulster inside their half was greeted with back chat to the referee who marched Glasgow back ten yards which only put Humphreys within range for another three points.

But worse than the gulf in skills between the two teams was the difference on confidence and, with it, aggression because with the name "Warriors" you become a hostage to fortune. Twice in the first half an Ulster forward pinned his opposite number to the ground by the neck for a minute or more and not one other Glasgow player thought this insult worth his trouble. In short, Glasgow's big men were bullied on the night and only hooker Scott Lawson could even rustle up much anger about it.

Things improved after the break with Glasgow bolstered by their two young flankers, Johns Barclay and Beattie, the back row replacements shortly joined by Fergus Thomson and Ben Prescott in the front row. Humphreys still extended the visitors' lead with his third penalty shortly after the restart and his fourth ten minutes later but, in between the two, Glasgow enjoyed their best period. A long series of scrums on the Ulster line only ended when Beattie dived over in dramatic fashion ten minutes into the half.

Two young substitutes then combined to set up Glasgow's second try after Thomson drove from a lineout and, after the ball was kicked ahead, Beattie won the turnover to allow Pinder to send O'Hare scampering towards the line. Parks's conversion dragged his side to within six points of Ulster before Humpreys made the game safe.

Glasgow: G Staniforth; R Lamont, H O'Hare, A Henderson, C Shaw; D Parks, S Pinder (C Howarth 78); K Tkachuk, S Lawson (F Thomson 55), E Murray (B Prescott 55), D Turner (J Eddie 60) C Hamilton, A Wilson (J Barclay 35), J Petrie (Capt), D Macfadyen (J Beattie 40).

Ulster: B Cunningham; T Bowe, A Trimble, J Bell, A Maxwell; D Humphreys, I Boss; B Young (J Fitzpatrick 68), R Best, S Best, J Harrison, M McCullough, N Best, R Wilson, S Ferris (N McMillan 65).

Referee: T Hayes (WRU)

Scorers: Glasgow - Try: Beattie, O'Hare. Conv: Parks. Pen: Parks (2). Ulster - Try: Boss, Harrison. Conv: Humphreys. Pens: Humphreys (5).

This article: http://sport.scotsman.com/rugby.cfm?id=577642006

This article was originally posted on 16-Apr-2006, 07:55 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 16-Apr-2006, 18:33.