Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ulster beat Edinburgh to secure second place in URC table

By PA
Mike Lowry with ball in hand for Ulster. Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Ulster secured a second-place finish in the BKT United Rugby Championship after tries from Jacob Stockdale, John Cooney and Nick Timoney helped them defeat Edinburgh 28-14 at the Kingspan Stadium.

ADVERTISEMENT

Player of the match Cooney scored 18 of Ulster’s total from two conversions and a penalty as well as his second-half try.

The win guarantees the Irish province a home semi-final should they win their URC quarter-final which will also be in Belfast.

Video Spacer
Video Spacer

The visitors were brighter from the outset and after Duan van der Merwe’s touch let him down after hacking on over the Ulster line, Darcy Graham scored for Edinburgh after seven minutes when the Scots ran back a dropped high kick by Ulster, Emiliano Boffelli added the conversion.

Then on 25 minutes, Ulster struck back with a stunning try. From a lineout, the Irish province put the ball through the hands and after Craig Gilroy had burst through the middle, Stockdale and Rob Baloucoune combined before Baloucoune’s return pass put Stockdale over the line.

Cooney missed the tricky conversion and Edinburgh still led 7-5 until he bisected the posts with a 37th-minute penalty to put the hosts ahead for the first time.

Cooney then stretched this to 11-7 with the clock in red with another penalty.

The second half was barely a minute old when Cooney intercepted Blair Kinghorn’s pass to run in from just inside his own half. He converted his own score and Ulster now led 18-7.

ADVERTISEMENT

That became 25-7 after 65 minutes when Nick Timoney barrelled over from close to the Edinburgh line following a yellow card being shown to Glen Young in the previous phase. Cooney slotted the straightforward conversion to take his points haul to 15.

Edinburgh’s Charlie Savala then had a score ruled out just before WP Nel crashed over for a converted try.

However, Cooney closed business for the evening with a 78th-minute penalty.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cape Town | Leg 1 | Day 2 | HSBC Challenger Series 2025 | Full Day Replay

Gloucester-Hartpury vs Bristol Bears | PWR 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 36 | Six Nations Round 3 Review

Why did Scotland's Finn Russell take the crucial kick from the wrong place? | Whistle Watch

England A vs Ireland A | Full Match Replay

Kubota Spears vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | JRLO 2024/2025 | Full Match Replay

O2 Inside Line: This Rose | Episode 3 | France Week

Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

R
RedWarriors 1 hour ago
France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Again we beat SA in Durban with an injury ravaged team. Guys like you have been predicting Irelands downfall for years for the same reasons.


Re the draw: NZ and SA were making plenty of noise about the draw until they squeeked through. SA and NZ don’t ‘rise above’ the draw. They BENEFIT from it!!


Should Scotland #5 seed globally but drawn in a Pool with Ireland and South Africa just have ‘risen above it’? Wow, if only your advice had occurred to them.

Should Japan in 2015 have ‘risen above it’ and beaten Scotland when forced to play them 4 days after beating South Africa?


That old chesnut about Ireland playing too many players in 2023. Ireland showed no fatigue in the RWC. We played the backline a lot early for coordination as Sexton back from ban. For professional sports people, you need to look at extreme fatigue to failure at the end of full intensity matches. They are the pertinent minutes. A backline running shapes for 60 mins against Romania is not a recovery issue. Amateur statisticians adding up minutes and jumping to silly conclusions means little.


I saw South Africa struggle badly with fatigue after the Quarter Final. Against Engalnd, in the final, you needed luck. You didn’t rise above it: you got poxed.


(BTW son. YOU haven’t won a World Cup

Also to note: you are jsut adding to the reputation of SA as having the most thin skinned supporters on the planet. A comment about Ireland dominating SA physcially and you can’t accept it. SA are never domianted! (even when they are))

40 Go to comments
P
PR 2 hours ago
France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

Oh here we go again - the draw. If Ireland were that good they would rise above the draw. South Africa did. New Zealand did. Ireland, not so much. You seem to think that it matters what happens in the group stages of the WC. The ONLY thing that matters at World Cups is who lifts the cup in the end. That’s it. Do you take any pride in Ireland being ‘the best’ in your group at the World Cup? Does it make up for the hurt of crashing out in the quarters? Do you think it means anything to the All Blacks that they beat the Boks in the pool game in 2019? Of course not. You only care about those things when, like Ireland, you don’t progress past the knock out stages and are looking for silver linings.


Leinster beating an injury-ravaged Stormers means nothing. For starters the best player in the Leinster team was RG Snyman. Also a young Leinster team lost 62-7 to the Bulls a couple of years ago. You don’t know how good youngsters are until they play Test rugby. And that’s the concern for Ireland. They have blooded some youngsters but by-and-large they need to play their best team to get results. We saw it at the World Cup when the game minutes of Ireland players were off the scale.


Meanwhile the Boks had a 85% win record last year chopping and changing using 50 players. This year the wider Bok squad stands at 80. And Rassie will keep experimenting.


As for the Six Nations - I love it. Great comp (even though it only delivered one team in the last four at the last WC). I love the rivalry and the rich history, although winning it is no way near comparable to winning a World Cup. Maybe you need to have won one to understand.

40 Go to comments
B
Bull Shark 3 hours ago
The revitalised Australians are pushing a Super Rugby revival

I am Delisha, I find my marital affairs in a fluid situation; my husband left me with 2kids I felt like ending it all. I was emotionally down. But all thanks go to Dr herbal. I came across several testimonies about Dr Herbal on guestbook as i was

Where’s Delisha gone?


I think it’s unfair and appalling that the moderators silence Delisha about her “fluid marital situation”!


Fascist censors!


I have decided to come to Rugbypass for all my Herbal and cybersecurity news given the many wonderful posts shared here. And now this!


Delisha, where ever you are, God speed. I hope the fluids in your marriage remain strictly between you and your husband.

49 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING New Zealand Rugby should avoid a deal with Kalyn Ponga Avoid a deal with Kalyn Ponga
Search