Edinburgh lose in Belfast

• 21 Apr 2023

Edinburgh finished their 22/23 BKT United Rugby Championship season with a 28-14 defeat against Ulster at the Kingspan.

The visitors started in perfect fashion, playing with intent to put the men in white on the back foot. The early pressure eventually told, with Edinburgh scoring a brilliant try for the opening points of the match.

Mark Bennett, who looked lively in the early exchanges, burst through the Ulster defence, before dummying and putting Darcy Graham away to finish under the posts.

The bright start sparked Ulster into life, with the hosts hitting back through a brilliant score of their own. A sweeping move was finished by Jacob Stockdale, gathering an offload from Baloucoune to cross the line.

Ulster managed to pull away towards the end of the second half, with John Cooney knocking over two penalties to close out a frenetic first 40.

The second half started in disastrous fashion, with Kinghorn throwing an intercept pass in the first minute that allowed Cooney to go the length to score.

The men in white started to turn the screw, and with Glen Young in the sin bin managed to crash over through Nick Timoney to put the game beyond the visitors.

Edinburgh huffed and puffed towards the end, coming close on a couple of occasions. McInally came within inches of scoring, having burst through the Ulster defence, but was caught just before the line, cruelly robbing him of a perfect send off in his final game for the club.

Savala then crossed the whitewash, however was denied the try after Jamie Ritchie was deemed to have knocked on.. The try finally came through WP Nel, who found space at the ruck to cross over.

The try added some gloss, however it proved too little too late, with another Cooney penalty putting the game beyond doubt.