Diack, Pienaar set up bonus-point win

First-half tries from Robbie Diack and Ruan Pienaar set Ulster on their way to a third straight Pro12 win as they beat the increasingly home sick Newport Gwent Dragons by 30-12 on Friday.

Diack bagged the first try of the game in the 13th minute and scrumhalf Pienaar followed suit moments later as the Irish outfit, once in front, never surrendered their lead at Ravenhill.

Pienaar struggled with the boot kicking just 10 points but Craig Gilroy’s try 12 minutes after the break eased the pressure despite second-half yellow cards to Willie Faloon and Ian Whitten.

Newport could only record four penalties from Jason Tovey as their winless away run continues with centre Stefan Terblanche ensuring Ulster earned a bonus point with a fifth try at the death.

It didn’t take long for the game to burst into life as a Gavin Thomas pass was superbly intercepted by Ian Humphreys with the Ulster fly-half charging into Dragons territory.

Under pressure from Tovey, Humphreys sent a kick tumbling out but he moved quickly to restart play after an apparent touch from the Dragons No.10.

He feed Pienaar who set up back row Mike McComish to score however it wasn’t to stand as referee Carlo Damasco pulled proceedings back for a Newport line-out.

The visitors made the most of the decision to take the lead four minutes later, Tovey slotting a fine penalty, with Pienaar missing the opportunity to level the score moments later.

However, it hardly seemed to matter as in the 13th minute a clever quick line-out saw No.8 Diack collect and power over for the first try of the game.

Pienaar sent the conversion wide but was on hand to finish Ulster’s second try moments later as Newport allowed the hosts to sweep through their defence.

With the conversion right in front of the posts Pienaar comfortably slotted his first points with the boot with Ulster threatening to run away with the tie at 12-3.

Newport hit back with two Tovey penalties in the space of five minutes however Pienaar responded with a well-taken kick and three points of his own for Ulster.

And, while the first half was lit up early on, it took ten minutes for the first points of the second half to be scored courtesy of Tovey’s fourth penalty of the night.

Ulster extended their lead straight from the kick-off, however, Nevin Spence making a nuisance of himself as the ball dropped, and Humphreys eventually feeding wing Gilroy to score.

Pienaar missed the conversion as Ulster moved into a 20-12 lead but they were reduced to 14 after Faloon was given a yellow card for not releasing in the tackle following a number of warnings.

Newport pressured but couldn’t find a way through, even when Whitten received a yellow card for hands in the ruck, with a Pienaar penalty and Terblanche’s converted try completing the scoring.

* Meanwhile, Hanno Dirksen’s stunning solo effort was a worthy match-winner as Ospreys snuck past Edinburgh at Murrayfield, winning 15-14.

Dougie Fife’s debut try for Edinburgh had been cancelled out by one in return for Ospreys’ Richard Hibbard, but the Gunners were still hopeful of picking up a first Pro12 victory since early December thanks to the boot of Phil Godman.

But American wing Dirksen then stole the show midway through the second half, racing on to his own chip before outpacing the Edinburgh defence to score what turned out to be the winning try as Dan Biggar kicked the vital conversion.

* In the other match on Friday, Sam Hobbs ensured it was a happy Blues return to their old stomping ground of Cardiff Arms Park as they comfortably saw off the threat of Connacht in a 22-15 victory.

All the scores and scorers from the Friday games:

Ulster 30-12 Newport Gwent Dragons

The scorers:

For Ulster:
Tries: Diack, Pienaar, Gilroy, Terblanche
Cons: Pienaar 2
Pens: Pienaar 2

For the Newport Gwent Dragons:
Pens: Tovey 4

Yellow card(s): Willie Faloon (Ulster, 54th minute), Ian Whitten (Ulster, 75th minute)

The teams:

Ulster: 15 Adam D’Arcy, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Stefan Terblanche, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Willie Faloon, 6 Mike McComish, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Lewis Stevenson, 3 John Afoa (captain), 2 Andi Kyriacou, 1 Callum Black.
Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Tim Barker, 20 Ali Birch, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Nevin Spence, 23 Simon Danielli.

Newport Gwent Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Jamie Smith, 13 Adam Hughes, 12 Ashley Smith (captain), 11 Aled Brew, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 Gavin Thomas, 7 Darren Waters, 6 Jevon Groves, 5 Rob Sidoli, 4 Adam Jones, 3 Nathan Buck, 2 Steve Jones, 1 Nathan Williams.
Replacements: 16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Phil Price, 18 Dan Way, 19 Hugo Ellis, 20 Tom Brown, 21 Joe Bedford, 22 Andy Tuilagi, 23 Lewis Robling.

Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Assistant referees: Peter Haycock (Ireland), David Keane (Ireland)
TMO: Peter Ferguson (Ireland)

Blues 22-15 Connacht

The scorers:

For the Blues:
Try: Hobbs
Con: Blair
Pens: Blair 5

For Connacht
Tries: O’Halloran, Moore
Con: O’Connor
Pen: O’Connor

The teams:

Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Richard Mustoe, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Tom James, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Richie Rees, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Maama Molitika, 5 Paul Tito (captain) 4 Michael Paterson, 3, Sam Hobbs 2, T Rhys Thomas, 1 John Yapp.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Tyrell, 17 Nathan Trevett, 18 Ryan Harford, 19 Cory Hill, 20 Macauley Cook, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Tom Williams.

Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy (captain), 14 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 13 Kyle Tonetti, 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Tiernan O’Halloran, 10 Niall O’Connor, 9 Paul O’Donohoe, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Ray Ofisa, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Ronan Loughney, 2 Adrian Flavin, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Denis Buckley, 18 Stewart Maguire, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Mick Kearney, 21 Dave Moore, 22 Matthew Jarvis, 23 Henry Fa’afili.

Referee: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Sean Brickell (Wales), Greg Morgan (Wales)

Edinburgh 14-15 Ospreys

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Try: Fife
Pens: Godman 3

For the Ospreys:
Tries: Dirksen, Hibbard
Con: Biggar
DG: Biggar

The teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Tom Brown, 13 Matt Scott, 12 John Houston, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Chris Leck, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Roddy Grant (captain), 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Jack Gilding, 2 Alun Walker, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Ulises Gamboa, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Alan MacDonald, 21 Alex Black, 22 Gregor Hunter, 23 Jim Thompson.

Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Tom Isaacs, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Tom Smith (captain), 5 James King, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Joe Rees, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Duncan Jones.
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Will Taylor, 19 Alun-Wyn Jones, 20 Joe Bearman, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Sonny Parker.

Referee: Leo Colgan (Ireland)
Assistant referees: David Changleng (Scotland), Ian Bruce (Scotland)
TMO: Iain Ramage (Scotland)