Edinburgh play-off bid in balance after Ulster loss
Head coach Richard Cockerill admitted edinburgh had only themselves to blame after blowing their big chance of qualifying for the Pro14 play-offs with two games to spare.
The match hung in the balance until two minutes from time when the Belfast outfit scored a try through lock forward Iain Henderson to secure their bonus-point victory.
edinburgh remain eight points ahead of Ulster and Cockerill believes they can seal their place if they win one of their two remaining fixtures against Scarlets and Glasgow Warriors.
‘It is still game on though in terms of our qualification,’ said Cockerill. ‘It is still in our hands. There is an eight-point difference between us ahead of Ulster now. We have two games left, they have three. We have to make sure we win at least one game to qualify as we can’t rely on other people.
‘as a team, if you concede soft points you get punished. all four of their tries were soft. Losing three in the first half left us a mountain to climb. We only have ourselves to blame.
‘Some of our lads must step up to the plate and make a better fist of it against Scarlets. I have got to get the best out of the lads next week.’
It was a case of what might have been for the home side, who dominated at the scrum but didn’t have enough flair in the backs to take advantage.
edinburgh took the lead with a duncan Weir penalty after nine minutes. Four minutes later darren Cave went over for the opening Ulster try. John Cooney put over the extras.
Weir cut the deficit to one point with a penalty before Ulster went further ahead when full-back Charles Piutau broke through two tackles to score out wide.
With 23 minutes on the clock, Ulster went further ahead through scrum-half Cooney, who scored under the posts. The scrum-half converted his own try.
Weir gave edinburgh some hope when he intercepted a pass from Cooney to run from the halfway line to score. He also put over the extras. down six points at the break, edinburgh didn’t get the fast start they wanted in the second half with Cooney putting another three points on the board for Ulster.
The home side had no choice but to attack an Ulster defence that had been rock solid for most of the match.
The fightback looked on when Nigel Owens awarded a penalty try to put edinburgh just two points behind.
However, edinburgh gave away a penalty in front of the posts that Cooney put over to extend Ulster’s lead to five points.
The last ten minutes were pulsating with edinburgh throwing caution to the wind.
It was only in the last two minutes that Ulster knew they had the game in the bag and Ireland international Jacob Stockdale nearly scored in the corner.
Then, Henderson made the game safe with a try converted by Cooney that denied the hosts a losing bonus point.