It was an emotional occasion for one of Ulster’s favourite sons at Ravenhill with David Humphreys playing his last match for the home team after so many years loyal service to the province.
Ulster 17 Cardiff Blues 26
Friday 9 May 7.30pm kick off
Magners League
However, it was the Blues who got off to a good start, attacking well with a forceful break from Dafydd Hewitt from his own half. Ulster were awarded the scrum but Richie Rees did superbly to steal the ball from Isaac Boss. He shipped the ball onto Robinson, who threw a well-timed pass to Molitika to crash over for the try. Debutant Leigh Halfpenny slotted the conversion.
The injured David Humphreys went off after 10 minutes to rapturous applause from the Ulster crowd and the next move saw Trimble break through the Blues defence. Despite a fantastic cover tackle by Halfpenny, Tommy Bowes momentum carried him over for the try.
Nicky Robinson was kicking well getting good distance however there were some unforced errors by the Blues and also some sloppy passes.
The Blues won a line out and tried to spread ball left, however the Ulster defence was solid and they eventually they won a scrum and cleared. However, the Blues were dominating territory and attacking in the Ulster twenty-two but found it hard to break through the home sides defence.
Ulster won turnover ball and attacked, eventually getting the breakthrough. They spread the ball wide and Simon Danielli broke through some weak tacking to score. Replacement Wallace got the conversion.
Half time Ulster 12 Cardiff Blues 7
Ulster were playing with momentum carrying on from the end of the first half, however the next score came from a great individual effort by young winger Roger Davies.
Ulster knocked the ball on in their own twenty two and Davies hacked on. The Cardiff winger had the speed to outstrip the defence, hack on again, and touch down as the ball rolled over the line.
Halfpenny again added the conversion.
It was another debutant who got the next score. James Down came on a run around from the side of a ruck inside the Ulster twenty-two. He sprinted in to score in the corner to extend the Blues lead but Halfpenny was unlucky with the conversion.
Wallace soon struck back with a try and the conversion would have levelled the score, but he struck it just wide.
The Blues seemed to be hitting the self-destruct button trying to run the ball out of their own twenty-two when they needed field position.
Eventually Nicky Robinson put in a long clearance and good chasing by Stcherbina managed to close Ulster down. From the ruck, Robinson put in an up and under and Macleod did well to gather. Roger Davies again showed his speed and passed back inside to Spice who fed Molitika to score. Halfpenny added the conversion to seal the Blues first win in Ulster.
15 Nick Macleod 14 Roger Davies 13 Marc Stcherbina 12 Dafydd Hewitt 11 Leigh Halfpenny 10 Nicky Robinson 9 Richie Rees (58off) 8 Xavier Rush © (61off) 7 Ben White ((68off) 6 Maama Molitika 5 Scott Morgan (39off) 4 Bradley Davies 3 Gary Powell (57off) 2 Gareth Williams (58off) 1 Taufaao Filise 16 John Yapp (57on) 17 T Rhys Thomas (58on) 18 James Down (39on)19 Mark Lewis 961on) 20 Rhys Shellard (68on) 21 Jason Spice (58on) 22 Dai Flanagan
Cardiff Blues Ulster
Tries Molitika x 2 Bowe x 1 Roger Davies x 1 Danielli x 1 Down x 1 Wallace x1
Conversions Halfpenny x 3 Wallace x 1 Penalties
Drop Goals