Guinness PRO12: Connacht 3-10 Ulster

Ulster snatched a 10-3 victory in a close-fought encounter with Connacht at the Sportsground in Galway.

A 78th minute try from Nick Williams and a Paddy Jackson penalty were enough to see Ulster condemn Connacht to their first home defeat of the season.

AJ MacGinty replied with a penalty for Pat Lam's men but their inability to convert their first-half chances led to their downfall and stopped them going back to the top of the table.

Connacht made a fast start to the game and turned down two kickable penalties in favour of backing their strong rolling maul, but the Ulster defence held firm leaving their opponents scoreless.

The home side had a chance to get the first points on the board on the half-hour mark when they were awarded a penalty 15 metres outside the 22 only for Craig Ronaldson to push the kick wide.

The first points of the close-fought game came moments later when the boot of Jackson punished Connacht's indiscipline at the ruck.

Ronaldson missed a second kickable shot at goal after 48 minutes before Ulster wasted their first try-scoring opportunity of the match.

A direct approach from Ulster sent Rory Scholes on a slicing run through the Connacht defence before the ball was spun wide by Luke Marshall, but the final pass couldn't find the hands of Andrew Trimble and the winger fumbled forward with the line in sight.

Marshall was sin-binned on 58 minutes when the television match official replays saw the Ulster centre pulling back MacGinty as they chased a loose ball, and the USA international levelled the game up five minutes later after a scrappy scrum went to ground.

As the game looked to be inevitably fading into a draw, Ulster produced the moment of the match to steal the points.

A strong scrum platform gave Marshall the chance to bust his way through the Connacht defence before Williams powered his way over from short range, sealing victory for the visitors who move up to third, three points behind Connacht and four off leaders Scarlets.