Edinburgh revive Cup hopes

Edinburgh staged a late rally to overcome a first half deficit and claim a 17-13 victory against Ulster in their Heineken Cup clash at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The Scots banished memories of last week's 31-7 demolition at the hands of Stade Francais with a battling performance to put their cup hopes firmly back on track.

Bath, who lost 26-12 to Ulster at Ravenshill in their opening game of the competition, now remain the only team in Pool Four without a win.

Rooted to the bottom of the group, Edinburgh's win has piled on the pressure for Steve Meehan's men when they face the French giants at the Recreation Ground on Sunday.

Edinburgh fly half Phil Godman put the hosts into an early lead after Ulster were penalised for holding-on inside the first minute.

The 27-year-old, standing in for missing kicker Chris Paterson, slotted home a superb long range effort to give his side a 3-0 advantage.

Godman added three more approaching the 20 minute mark to take the score to 6-0 but Ulster hit back immediately courtesy of winger Timoci Nagusa.

Mercurial

Nagusa appeared at the breakdown from nowhere to whip around the fringe and catch the Edinburgh defence well and truly napping.

The mercurial Fijian effortlessly slipped the tackle of Mark Robertson and strolled in unopposed, leaving Ian Humphreys to add the extras and nudge Ulster into the lead.

The Ulster fly half was on target again on the half hour mark to give his side a 10-6 lead but his opposite number was not so lucky closer to the end of the half.

Godman saw first a drop goal attempt charged down and then his penalty kick drift just wide of the posts in the dying minutes to leave the hosts trailing 6-10 at the break.

Soon after the restart Humphreys took full advantage of the opportunity to extend Ulster's lead to seven points when Irish international prop Tom Court was penalised for failing to roll away.

Minutes later though, he missed what appeared to be a straightforward opportunity after the hosts were again punished for yet another sloppy infringement in the contact area.

Edinburgh went agonisingly close towards the end of the third quarter when flanker Roddy Grant split the Ulster defence to set his three quarters free.

But centre Nick de Luca, latching onto a long pass and with men over on the outside, opted instead for glory and was brought down on the line.

Terrible error

Godman however closed the gap just inside the final fifteen minutes, taking the score to 13-9 with a fine effort to set up a nail biting finish.

Edinburgh's try came minutes later when, with the ball spread wide, de Luca this time chose to pass and Tim Visser gratefully collected to cross in the corner.

Godmans conversion went wide, leaving the hosts with a slender lead of a single point.

Within a minute Visser had turned from hero to villain after he got underneath a high kick and set off for the Ulster line and a seemingly certain score.

Bizarrely though the winger, instead of touching down for the try, chose to pass back as he was brought down over the visitors' goal line.

His pass went straight to the hands of the Ulster defence and the video official confirmed a terrible error that would surely have taken the game out of reach.

It left to Goldman to put the game beyond the visitors with a penalty in the final minute and lift Edinburgh off the bottom spot they had shared with Bath.