Ulster’s stuttering season continued last night with a 16 – 10 loss to Edinburgh at a deserted Murrayfield.

I’d predicted Ulster pulling away for a comfortable win, in a scrappy match, but their on-field leaders failed to rally their troops and it was the hosts who looked the most comfortable as they defended their lead in the closing minutes.

Oh well, at least I was right about it being a scrappy match, it was a poor advert for the PRO12, but Ulster’s lack of cohesion on their away day jollies is a continuing worry and something Les Kiss will have to address when he takes up his tenure.

The first half was fairly nondescript with Greig Tonks landing two penalties to Peter Nelson’s one to give the hosts a 6 – 3 lead at the interval.

Ulster started the second half well and, stringing together a couple of phases, found themselves deep in the  Edinburgh 22 after Paul Marshall upped the pace of the game with a tap penalty. Ulster’s big boys took over and, after a series of drives, Sean Reidy crossed for the opening try. Nelson converted and Ulster led 6 – 10.

I sat back and waited for Ulster to pull away but unfortunately so did the team and Edinburgh came back almost immediately when the impressive Hamish Watson, a constant thorn in Ulster’s side, linked up with Nasi Manu to gallop over for a converted try to restore Edinburgh’s lead.

That was basically it. Ulster squandered a kickable penalty, which would have levelled the score, in favour of an unsuccessful catch and drive and, true to the game, Edinburgh banged one over minutes later to make it a six point game.

Ulster had a last gasp chance to steal the game as the clock ticked by the 80th minute but another catch and drive broke down when Watson stole the ball to end the game.

Ulster: Louis Ludik, Craig Gilroy, Sam Arnold, Stuart McCloskey, Andrew Trimble, Peter Nelson, Paul Marshall, Callum Black, Rob Herring, Wiehahn Herbst, Dan Tuohy, Franco van der Merwe, Roger Wilson, Sean Reidy, Nick Williams. Replacements: John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Bronson Ross, Lewis Stevenson, Willie Faloon, David Shanahan, Ian Humphreys, Rory Scholes.

When I was writing my preview I convinced myself that Ulster couldn’t produce another performance as bad as Scarlets away. Unfortunately they did and, while it is easy to blame the stop start nature of the season for a lack of fluency, their is no excuse for the lack of on field leadership given the wealth of talent and experience at Ulster’s disposal.

No doubt Ulster will bounce back with a convincing win against Cardiff next week but something is rotten in the province of Ulster, I just hope that Les Kiss brings a big enough shovel to clear it out!

Photo credit: BBC Sport.