Ulster see off Blues

Ulster ended Cardiff Blues' four-game winning run with a thrilling bonus-point victory at Ravenhill.

First-half tries from Craig Gilroy and Ruan Pienaar set Ulster on their way with further scores coming from Andrew Trimble and Luke Marshall, along with 12 points from the boot of Ian Humphreys.

Ulster raced out of the blocks and Nevin Spence made it over the Blues line in the opening minute, only for referee James Jones to call play back for an infringement.

But the hosts quickly made amends as Humphreys chipped over the Cardiff cover, re-gathered the ball on the bounce and drew in the remaining tacklers before offloading to Gilroy, who ran in under the posts to give Humphreys the easy conversion.

Three minutes later Humphreys nailed a long-range penalty and Ulster led 10-0.

But the Blues immediately hit back and worked the ball right, Ceri Sweeney playing a one-two with Dan Fish for the full-back to plant the ball under the sticks. Sweeney added the conversion and the Blues were back in the game.

Five minutes before the half hour though, Ulster kicked a penalty to touch and, from the resulting lineout, Spence smashed through and set up a series of phases which saw Pienaar dart over from close range. Humphreys' conversion restored Ulster's 10-point lead.

The visitors narrowed that just after the half hour when Tim Barker was penalised at a ruck and Sweeney kicked the penalty.

Surge

On 50 minutes, another powerful surge from Ulster saw Humphreys' pass creating the chance for Trimble to race past Tom James and touch down in the right corner, the television match official giving the score. Humphreys was wide with the difficult conversion but Ulster now led 22-10.

Sweeney got the Blues back to within nine points with a 56th-minute penalty after Declan Fitzpatrick was penalised at a scrum, but Ulster extended their lead again with a Humphreys penalty on the hour mark.

Ulster then dug deep to survive when Paddy McCallister was sin-binned for not rolling away from a tackle on Rhys Downes and the Blues were unable to make any headway on the scoreboard.

Marshall then added a fourth try under the posts for the bonus point after another sweeping Ulster move, with Humphreys again converting.