What a finish. Just when it looked as if they had blown it, Ulster found a way to win for only the fifth time in the United Rugby Championship this season and how they needed these four points.
It looked as if the game – with the lead see-sawing so many times – had gone and that Ulster were making tracks towards a third straight URC loss, but then came the vital moment when skipper Alan O’Connor surged to the line in the 79th minute to tie things up at 28 points apiece.
Nathan Doak was the man to stop the rot and when his kick went through the posts, Ulster just had to take the restart and see out time. This they did to keep their Play-Off hopes still looking salvageable.
The overnight optics weren’t great really. Zebre beating the Dragons meant that Ulster went into their round 12 outing one from bottom. Yes, 15th out of 16 teams and, as such, you could almost discern the pressure being cranked up on the hosts prior to kick-off.
So, if minds weren’t already firmly focused on banking just a fifth League win and avoiding a ruinous loss which would rack up a three-game run of reverses, then you would wonder if they can ever really be in a good place under Richie Murphy’s watch.
On five minutes, and after the brighter start, the Scarlets were off, Gareth Davies a kick over the top of a ruck to an unmanned area defensively for Ulster and it put winger Macs Page away after he took the bouncing ball to score under the sticks.
Ioan Lloyd added the easy conversion and Ulster had made the worst opening possible.
Ulster’s James McNabney on the charge
Five minutes later and we had a second score from the visitors, this time off a scrum after O’Connor had knocked on at a lineout. The Scarlets simply put the ball through the hands and Page rounded Jacob Stockdale to put Ioan Nicholas through and he scampered away to the line. This time Lloyd missed the two-pointer.
Ulster now needed a response and got one on 22 minutes when the Scarlets were pinged at a breakdown. The ball was put to the corner and from the lineout, the white shirts drove over with Nick Timoney getting the touchdown.
They extracted the maximum from it as well, Jack Murphy landing a great conversion from near the touchline to cut the Scarlets’ lead to 12-7 and two minutes before the half hour he added a penalty to make it 12-10 to the visitors.
Then, with two minutes of the half remaining, Ulster secured a penalty just inside the Scarlets’ half and Murphy teed it up and hit the perfect shot to put the home side in the lead for the first time.
It clearly gave the team and those in the ground a lift but then, Ulster being Ulster, they failed to see the half out and after straying offside, Lloyd stepped up and bisected the posts meaning that the province had held the lead for all of three minutes, the teams trooping off with the Welsh side leading 15-13.
Obviously, Ulster needed to come out with some fire in their bellies and, in fairness, they did so with Stuart McCloskey on a charge and from the subsequent penalty, Murphy edged his team back in the lead.
Once more, they couldn’t hold on to it and a mere two minutes later, Scarlets had a penalty for a tackle off the ball which Lloyd dispatched for a lead of 18-16.
Ulster’s Jack Murphy kicks a penalty
Then on 50 minutes, Stockdale and Page had a coming together when the Ulsterman carried hard and though there was a clear collision which was looked at ended up as a penalty to the hosts.
From there, Ulster won two penalties near the Scarlets’ line and opted to tap and go. Timoney was held up first time before Callum Reid barrelled through from close range.
Murphy converted the 53rd minute effort and Ulster finally had some daylight on the scoreboard at 23-18.
Yet again, though, more calamity followed. A loose ball was scooped up by Matthew Dalton and intercepted and, in a flash, replacement Vaea Fifita was clear to dot down at the posts, Lloyd converting to put the Scarlets once more in front.
The Scarlets out half then slotted a 70th minute penalty to put the Welsh 28-23 to the good.
But this game had another twist and Ulster put in a huge finish, camping on the Scarlets line. After Timoney was held, they went again and O’Connor got the score to tie things.
Doak added the winning conversion and Ulster held on to claim the victory.
Ulster: S Moore; M Lowry, J Hume, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; J Murphy, C McKee; C Reid, R Herring, S Wilson; A O’Connor (capt), M Dalton; Matty Rea, N Timoney, J McNabney
Replacements: J Andrew (for Herring 66mins), S Crean (for Reid 65mins), T O’Toole (for Wilson 47mins), K Treadwell (for Dalton 66mins), D McCann (for Rea 65mins), N Doak (for McKee 60mins), J Flannery (for Murphy 73mins), J Postlethwaite (for Hume 54mins).
Scarlets: I Nicholas; M Page, J Roberts, J Williams, T Lewis; I Lloyd, G Davies; A Hepburn, R Elias (capt), S Wainwright; A Craig, S Lousi; M Douglas, D Davis, J Taylor
Replacements: M van der Merwe (for Elias 50mins), S O’Connor (for Hepburn 70mins), G Hawley (for Wainwright 76mins), J Price (for Craig 68mins), V Fifita (for Douglas 50mins)
Subs not used: A Hughes, C Titcombe, S Evans.
Referee: S Grove-White (SRU)
Relive all the action on our LIVE blog below!
The forwards pile towards the line but can’t get over… until Nick Timoney dives one more time and finally wriggles over!
Is that Ulster’s last chance gone?
The home side are attacking on broken field ball as Jacob Stockdale fields a kick in behind and races back at the defence, but a few passes later the ball hits the deck and when Matty Dalton flicks it up, it’s straight into the hands of Jarrod Taylor and he feeds replacement back row Vaea Fifita and he runs over for the score.