Cardiff Blues moved into the RaboDirect PRO12 playoff places on Friday evening, thanks to a second half comeback that saw them down Ulster 21-14.
Robbie Diack’s try had helped the visitors into a five-point half-time lead, but Dan Parks inspired Cardiff as tries from him and Tom James helped them swing the tide after the restart and saw them leapfrog their opponents in the table.
Ulster had a strong breeze behind them for the first half at the Arms Park, and while that aided them in dominating possession it could not atone for some of their carless play in possession.
Some early attacks saw them misfire or get turned over by their hosts and that would be a pattern throughout the first half, albeit that Ruan Pienaar was able to ignore the jibes of the home fans when kicking over a 12th minute penalty to open the night’s scoring.
The Blues were finding themselves penned in but a number of spillages in possession were frustrating Ulster followers as they were not letting their dominance show on the scoreboard. They finally moved further ahead after 19 minutes when back row Diack was first to a loose ball from a line-out and used soccer skills and his not inconsiderable strength to hold off all challengers and ground the ball over the line. The TMO ensured that the try, scored on Ulster’s right, was awarded, but Pienaar sent his conversion attempt wide to the right.
Four minutes later Parks kicked over Cardiff’s first score of the night with a trademark penalty, but Ulster continued to boss the half and coach Brian McLaughlin cannot have been happy as their lead remained at just 8-3 coming up to half-time.
They finally extended their advantage with a straightforward Pienaar penalty, but there was still time in the half for Parks to drill over a sublime kick from the right touchline, leaving Cardiff just five adrift at the break, 6-11.
The second half began in exactly the opposite fashion as the first as a revitalised Cardiff side went right at Ulster and were rewarded with a try almost immediately. Their build-up play saw multiple phases take many Ulstermen out of possession, and leaving Ben Blair poorly marked on the Cardiff right. He raced away and thought he had gone over the line, but Stefan Terblanche did enough to deny him. However, Parks pounced to touch the loose ball over and, though he scuffed the conversion, the sides were level.
Cardiff’s ganders were up and they were almost in again when a kick to the corner from the same man put them in a great position, Nothing came from that, however, while Ulster were also frustrated in their efforts to find a second try as a break led by Paddy Wallace and Craig Giroy failed to find the final pass it needed to forge a score.
That next score was key and, crucially, it was the home side who got it on the hour mark. A Blues surge led to the ball being fed to free man James on the left and there was no stopping him from coasting over. There was also no stopping Parks from converting for a seven-point lead, though he would miss his next penalty attempt in a rare bad moment for the player on the night.
That miss came after Ian Humphreys went in the sin bin and Ulster conceded three more Parks points without him, but Pienaar kept them in it when he made it 21-14 with nine minutes left.
That at least had them within the needed distance for a losing bonus point, and they twice held on to that as James saw a third Blues try ruled out and Parks missed with a penalty that would have left the men from Ravenhill with nothing.