Stockdale hits double to top off bonus win

NEW man Marcell Coetzee starred as Ulster soaked up the pressure to emerge with all five points in Belfast.

In just his second start for the province, Coetzee was impressive again and led the pack with 14 carries and 19 tackles.

Despite being dominated before the break, Ulster still managed to lead at half-time thanks to tries from Tommy Bowe and Sean Reidy, but replacement Stockdale ran in his brace and the brilliant Ruan Pienaar finished off one of the tries of the season in the second-half as Ulster took control.

A man down late on with Rob Harley in the bin for a tip tackle on Coetzee, young lock Scott Cummings scored two tries for the visitors, but they were unable to rescue the game and Stockdale finished them off late on.

“Credit to the boys they worked very hard for this victory,” said Coetzee.

“I think the biggest thing is we learned from the mistakes from last week. We wanted to make it a full 80 game. They came at us hard but we stuck to our guns.”

With 61 per cent possession before the interval, and having forced their opponents to make 115 tackles, Gregor Townsend must wonder how his side were 15-5 in arrears at the midway point. But Ulster missed only 11 of those tackles as Glasgow too often lost the gain-line battle.

In contrast, Warriors missed nearly a quarter of their tackles in that period and that’s what impacted on the scoreboard.

In his first game in 2017 as he returned from injury, Pienaar kicked Ulster into an early lead from the tee, but it was Warriors who dominated, and couldn’t convert their chances.

Bowe finished off a move across the line after 22 minutes for Ulster’s first, and ten minutes later Reidy converted a great counter attack to stretch and score Ulster’s second.

Thomson hit back for Glasgow before the break but after the resumption, Pienaar started and finished off a length of the field try and Stockdale followed him over to clinch the bonus.

“We slipped off too many tackles, which made it easy for Ulster,” said Townsend. “We gave then seven points, then suddenly it goes to 14 and the game goes away form you.

“We did well at the end of the first-half to give ourself an opportunity in the second, but we can’t miss tackles against such a good attacking team.”