THE PIEN BARRIER
Injuries to Olding and Ruaan sum up poor day for Ulster
INJURY struck for Ulster’s Ruan Pienaar and Stuart Olding as their side slipped out of contention for the Pro12 semi-finals.
An error strewn display cost Les Kiss’ side, as Tom Habberfield and Tyler Ardron scored for Ospreys, but a back injury for Pienaar means he is now a doubt to play in his last game for Ulster next week against Leinster.
Olding didn’t even last a minute after he replaced Stuart Mccloskey, and he was stretchered off with a lower leg injury on a general miserable afternoon for Kiss’ men.
The initial signs were positive for Ulster, but once that early burst from the northern province was repelled, Ospreys were quick to find their feet and after a rolling maul was halted, they were unlucky not to score when Nicky Smith was held up over the line.
But from the following five-metre scrum Ospreys struck when Ashley Beck freed his hands and sent Habberfield over in the corner after eight minutes. Re- cently picked for the Lions, Dan Biggar slotted the touchline conversion. With Charles Piutau and Craig Gilroy busy on the front foot, Ulster showed plenty of promise, but they would have been relieved to get on the board after 18 minutes when Paddy Jackson kicked a penalty from near halfway to make it 7-3. But their misfiring lineout was a real blot on their report card – they lost three of their own in the first halfhour – so it was no surprise when Biggar made it 10-3 when Luke Marshall failed to roll away. The loss of Pienaar midway through the opening half was a significant blow, but his replacement Paul Marshall denied Ospreys a certain try five minutes from the break when he intercepted Rhys Webb’s final pass.
Ulster’s defence continued to live a charmed life as Ashley Giles came close before the break, however a stunning kick return from Dan Evans led to Ardron’s try just before the break as the lead crept out to 17-3.
There was plenty of unforced errors from Ulster in the opening half including some shocking missed tackles from Rory Best and Paul Marshall in the lead up to Ardron’s try, and things didn’t improve at the start of the second-half as some poor reads in defence and sloppy kicking cost them.
But Paul Marshall put in a couple of excellent kicks to the corner to put the squeeze on Ospreys, and with their set-piece finally gaining parity they began to gain a foothold.
The loss of Olding following a big tackle from Sam Underhill was a blow after 55 minutes, and despite Jacob Stockdale coming close in the last ten minutes, Kieron Fonotia sealed the win, although Stockdale ran in a last minute consolation.