Faletau injured again in gutting defeat to Ulster

GUTTED Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt was an unhappy man following his team’s controversial late defeat at the Kingspan.

It looked as though wing Theo Cabango had completed his hat-trick two minutes from time to seal the Welsh team’s first win in Belfast for 14 years.

But, after consulting with his TMO, referee Mike Adamson ruled there had been a deliberate knock-on by prop Rhys Carre way down field in the build-up and so awarded a penalty which John Cooney slotted to snatch the spoils.

To add to the furore, it seemed as if replacement scrum-half Cooney had knocked on ahead of Ulster’s only try just before

the hour, but that score from David McCann stood.

Sherratt said: “I am pretty gutted. I thought we deserved more from the game. Everyone is fairly emotional. Their try is a clear knock-on. There is no question about it. That’s not given and it’s seven points.

“And I’m not sure if it was a clear enough and obvious enough penalty at the end to over-rule our try and go back and give a penalty under the sticks.”

There was also debate whether Cardiff should have been awarded a penalty try for the ball being kicked out of the hands of Thomas Young as the flanker went to ground it.

To add to the visitors’ woes, Wales No.8 Taulupe Faletau was forced off with a shoulder injury 30 minutes into his comeback after six months out of the game. Sherratt added: “I am gutted for Toby. Fingers crossed, it’s not too bad because he’s put in a huge amount of effort to come back.”

Cardiff started brightly with Cabango crossing via a set move from a lineout, as he took an inside pass from No.9 Ellis Bevan and broke two attempted tackles to roll over.

Ulster’s starting scrumhalf Nathan Doak responded with two penalties to cut the deficit to 7-6 at half-time, but then Cabango delivered an even sharper finish straight after the break.

Making his first start

after five months out with shoulder damage, the winger received a long pass from Ben Thomas on the left touchline and scorched outside centre Jude Postlethwaite before cutting inside Jacob Stockdale to score.

Cardiff were now 14-6 up and their situation improved when winger Stockdale was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on. But 14-man Ulster rallied and reduced the gap to a point when No.8 McCann muscled over from close range for his contentious try.

An exchange of penalties saw Cardiff leading going into the dying minutes despite prop Rhys Carre’s sin-binning ahead of the dramatic and debate-provoking finale.

Ulster coach Richie Murphy said: “We were a bit off and we have got quite a lot of work to do. We are not happy with the overall performance. We were lucky to win the game in the end.”