Ulster dent Edinburgh hopes

Ulster made sure of a Heineken Cup place next season with a comprehensive 37-25 win over Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

The victory was the visitors' first Magners League win of the season over a Scottish side and left their opponents' play-off hopes hanging by a thread.

A tight first-half ended all square at 10-10 after tries by Jamie Smith for Ulster and Tim Visser for Edinburgh and Niall O'Connor and Phil Godman each kicking the conversion and a penalty.

But the visitors then ran-in second-half tries from Simon Danielli, Ian Whitten, Ian Humphreys and Stephen Ferris to put the issue beyond doubt before late touchdowns from Visser and Andy Turnbull proved too little, two late for Edinburgh.

The five point haul means Ulster will stay ahead of bottom side Connacht in the table and earned Brian McLaughlin's team a Heineken Cup place next season.

But the visitors showed their early nervousness when an unnecessary tug on Edinburgh full-back Ben Cairns after he had lofted a hopeful kick brought a penalty in the sixth minute which Phil Godman eased home.

However the lead was a short one as, in perfect conditions, Edinburgh were guilty of basic errors including slipping off tackles.

The first Ulster try arrived after 12 minutes when orthodox handling to the right saw centre Daren Cave slip the ball inside to full back Smith who accelerated out of home wing Visser's attempted tackle and through a better one on the line from Mark Robertson to touch down under the bar for O'Connor to convert.

The home side almost fell further behind in the 20th minute when Godman and Nick De Luca dithered in dealing with a long kick over their goal line and almost let in Danielli to touch down.

However, the visitors extended their lead to 10-3 almost immediately afterwards when O'Connor goaled a long penalty.

But the home side drew level in the 30th minute when Visser broke the tackle of Whitten and dived over for his ninth try of the season, with Godman converting off the post.

The move had started with a thrust down the right wing by Cairns with scrum half Greig Laidlaw adding important penetration as the ball was switched left.

With O'Connor missing a long penalty soon after, the sides went in all square at the break.

Mike Blair, Edinburgh's Lions scrum-half who had been left on the bench, came on for Laidlaw on 50 minutes but it was Ulster's first-half sub Humphreys who conjured up the first try of the second half with a little dart before sending Scotland cap Danielli over the line for the unconverted try.

The home side passed up a try-scoring chance when De Luca made a long run only to pass forward to supporting Roddy Grant.

They were then punished in the 64th minute when pressure on the left was moved right for centre Whitten to step round replacement wing Turnbull to score in the right corner, from where Humphreys' conversion hit a post.

If a long penalty by Godman in the 71st minute brought some hope, that was extinguished when first Humphreys charged down Cairns' clearing kick behind his line to touch-down and then Ferris broke clear to dash 30 metres to score, with Humphreys converting both.

The home side scored two late tries via Visser and Turnbull, with Godman converting the latter, but it was not enough to overhaul Ulster, whose lead was extended at the death when Humphreys notched a last-gasp penalty.