Ulster’s play off chances suffered a serious blow when they failed to secure a point in their 27 – 17 defeat at Scotstoun on Friday evening. As a result of the defeat Ulster drop out of the play off places to fifth with Glasgow hot on their heels, level on points, with a game in hand. 

It was an enjoyable enough game despite being played on a sand pit of a pitch. Ulster didn’t do a lot wrong, narrowly missing out on a losing bonus point, and they gave Glasgow a hard enough game which will stretch the Scottish resources as they now embark on a series of three games on the road. 

Ulster made a fine start breaking the Scottish line at will in the opening exchanges. A break by Stuart McCloskey ended with Stuart Hogg yellow carded and a couple of plays later Iain Henderson picked an inside line to cross unopposed. Paddy Jackson converted and Ulster led 0 – 7 after five minutes. 

Glasgow started to work their way back into the game from the fifteen minute mark with the scrambling Ulster defence giving away a few careless penalties, Finn Russell converting two on the 23rd and 28th minutes to pull the score to 6 – 7. 

Jackson slotted over a 34th minute penalty to put Ulster four points clear but Glasgow struck back just before the break with Russell slotting over his third penalty to give a half time score of Glasgow 9 Ulster 10. 

Having lost Alan O’Connor in the first half Ulster suffered another blow at the start of the second when Nick Williams failed to reappear after the break with the athletic but somewhat less attritional Robbie Diack and Sean Reidy stepping up. 

Given that Ulster were wanting to work over the Glasgow pack it was something of a blow but it didn’t appear to have much of an impact as Ulster quickly extended their lead to eight points within minutes of the restart. 

A long, raking, penalty from Jackson was chased up by Craig Gilroy who followed the ball into touch 5 meters from the Glasgow line. With the Glasgow defence switching off Gilroy took a quick line out to the onrushing McCloskey who crossed unopposed. With Jackson converting Ulster led 17 – 9. 

Complacency, luck and incompetence combined to undo Ulster in the next twenty minutes as Ulster sat back somewhat and looked to defend their lead. In fairness the defence looked to be working pretty well as Ulster drove Glasgow backwards only for a blatantly forward pass from Russell set Hogg clear on the wing. The Six Nations Player of the Tournament chipped the remaining defence to score in the corner but it’s a mystery why the referee pointedly refused to review the forward pass despite going upstairs for the grounding. 

Russell missed the conversion but quickly made amends when a well placed cross field kick found Tommy Seymour out wide for the ex Ulster player to race clear for Glasgow’s second try in a matter of minutes. Russell converted this one and Glasgow led 21 – 17. 

Ulster continued to plug away and showed much more invention with the ball in hand. The ref still had time to deny Ulster a losing bonus point by first denying a high tackle by Hogg, on Olding in front of the posts, Hogg’s arm never going below Olding’s shoulder plus he incorrectly penalised Herring for coming round at a line out to take out the ball carrier at the back of an unopposed maul. 

I’ve generally laid off the referees this season but given the stakes it was a poor display from an experienced referee who lacked empathy for the importance of the outcome. However, Ulster did give him plenty of opportunities to find fault and two further penalties, including a last minute howitzer from Hogg, gave Glasgow a 27 – 17 win, denying Ulster that all important losing bonus. 

Ulster: Stuart Olding, Craig Gilroy, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Rory Scholes, Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar, Callum Black, Rob Herring, Ricky Lutton, Alan O’Connor, Franco van der Merwe, Iain Henderson, Chris Henry, Nick Williams. Replacements: John Andrew, Kyle McCall, Andrew Warwick, Robbie Diack, Sean Reidy, Paul Marshall, Sam Windsor, Darren Cave.