Gloucester into last eight

Gloucester have reached the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup after coming through their Pool Two match against Ulster with a 29-21 victory at Kingsholm.

The result means that the Cherry and Whites are now third seeds behind Saracens and London Irish for the quarter-finals of the competition and are guaranteed home advantage.

And yet the Guinness Premiership side hardly put down a statement of intent during the match, struggling to pull clear of a side who boasted just one win coming into the final group match.

Nevertheless, Gloucester did enough to secure a bonus point, with Akapusi Qera leading the way for the home side with two tries and Alasdair Strokosch, Iain Balshaw and Luke Narraway also touching down.

Errors

Helped in their cause by their opponents' propensity for making errors - Gloucester knocking on in a manner that perhaps suggested they were trying too hard - Ulster scored three tries in all, the impressive Tommy Bowe touching down twice, Andrew Trimble adding another.

A notable absence from the list of try-scorers was Lesley Vainikolo, England's newest addition making his 10th union start and yet proving unable to add to his record of nine tries scored.

Still, he roused home passions with a stirring run in the opening seconds and, following another burst from the big man after 10 minutes, the resulting ruck ended with opposite numbers Olivier Azam and Rory Best trading blows on the nearside touchline.

The visitors had the chance to take the lead moments later but, presented with a penalty just outside the Gloucester 22, Paddy Wallace missed the target. Receiving their own penalty on 15 minutes, Chris Paterson went for the corner.

Line-out won, the home side pressed for the opening try but, after seven phases, captain Marco Bortolami wasted the opportunity by fumbling the ball into touch. Isaac Boss eventually cleared his lines but, from the resulting line-out, Tindall spun his way through Ulster's defence and broke clear before feeding Qera to go over.

Paterson converted but Ulster came right back and it was all thanks to Boss who, despite his hideous dreadlocked mullet, showed that he is nevertheless capable of great subtlety - the scrum-half selling a wonderful dummy and breaking before throwing an inviting pass for Bowe on the right-hand flank to touch down.

Wallace converted well for 7-7 and, with Ulster posing more problems than many of the Kingsholm faithful had perhaps predicted, a Gloucester penalty on the half-hour saw Bortolami ignoring the posts and going for the corner.

Quite a gamble from the captain but it paid off when Strokosch went through under the posts and with Paterson converting, Ulster's woes deepened when Mark McCrea was sin-binned soon after. But, as half time approached, they pressed forward to camp deep in Gloucester territory.

Wallace miss

Over 20 phases of possession followed but after Gareth Delve was penalised for coming in at the side, they were unable to reap their reward - Wallace missing the target, as he did once more when Ulster secured another penalty two minutes into the second half.

Ulster came back again and in some style thanks to a flowing move from their own half - Bowe chipping and taking the ball successfully before finding Justin Harrison, the second row then offloading to Best, who in turn fed Trimble to finish it off.

Wallace this time found the target to level and, with Bortolami off the pitch after claiming to have received an elbow in his left eye and Ryan Lamb on for Paterson, the returning McCrea also made his presence felt with a crunching tackle on James Simpson-Daniel.

The latter helped gain territory in the move which led to Gloucester's third try, the ball eventually moved left and, following a long pass from Lamb, it looked for a moment as though Vainikolo was indeed going over.

A strong tackle from Bowe halted him, but the home side continued to press and it Qera who eventually crossed for his second, the big flanker on the end of an overlap in the left-hand corner.

Lamb missed the conversion, his nerves symptomatic of a side protecting a five-point lead. But with 10 minutes left they secured the bonus point with another well-taken try - the ball this time worked right-to-left from a lineout across Ulster's 22, before Vainikolo set up Balshaw to cross in the corner.

The ten-point lead came down to just three with five minutes remaining, however, Kieran Campbell coming on for Boss for a substitution that immediately paid dividends - his cross-field kick being taken by McCrea, who in turn fed Bowe to cross for his second.

Replacement fly-half Niall O'Connor kicked the extras. The match was by now wide open but Ulster proved unable to sustain their momentum with Gloucester instead scoring their fifth - Narraway choosing the direct route to the visitors' line.