Centres of attention get Scottish home

L Scottish ...... 34 Ulster .............. 29

TRY-DOUBLES from centres Alec Coombes and Robbie Fergusson ensured Scottish made it two from two in a thriller at the Athletic Ground.

Coombes got Scottish going with two tries in the opening eight minutes giving the hosts a 12-0 lead, but an acrobatic try in the corner from Rob Lyttle put Ulster on the board.

Lorcan Dow, from a powerful scrum, levelled the score but it didn't last long as Fergusson scored under the posts for Scottish.

Harry Sheppard converted and then kicked a penalty but the Irish hit back on the stroke of halftime through John Andrew, reducing the gap to a mere three points.

Johnny McPhillips levelled soon after the restart from the tee and it remained that way until Andrew’s second gave Ulster the lead as well as securing the try bonuspoint on the hour.

But Alastair Miller did the same five minutes later for Scottish which made it a two-point game.

Scottish kept going and fittingly it was Fergusson who capped off an outstanding individual performance by scoring the match-winner consigning Ulster to the losing bonus-point.

Scottish head coach Pete Richards said: “What a game. We showed great resilience and spirit to get the win. Nerve racking towards the end but it sets us up nicely.”

TEAMS

SCOTTISH: Galbraith 6; Holland 6, Fergusson 8, Coombes 8, Ives 5 (Rath 46, 6); Sheppard 6 (Hope 57, 6), Fraser 6 (Stevenson 46, 7); Shiells 6 (Adams-Hale 46, 6), Fenton 7 (Cherry 41, 6), Koroi 8; McGeekie 6, Patrick 6 (Cringle 64-74, 6); Humfrey 7, Marley 6 (Atkinson 43, 7), Miller 7

ULSTER A: McPhillips 7; Lyttle 7, Stockdale 7, Best 7, Cairns 6; Herron 6, Lloyd 7; Simpson 6 (Trenier 60, 6), Andrew 7 (Murphy 66, 6), Herbst 6 (O'Hagan 41, 6); Tuohy 6 (Donnan 26, 6), Treadwell 7; Mulholland 7, Joyce 6, Dow 7 Not used: Timoney, Kelly, Sampson REFEREE: Gareth Newman

ATTENDANCE: 906 Star man Robbie Ferguson - Scottish