Pienaar the superstar for Ulster

SPRINGBOK Ruan Pienaar could not have wished for a better start to his Ulster sojourn when he scored all of his side’s points in a none-too-exciting affair at Ravenhill last night, against a stubborn Glasgow side who deserved at least a loser’s bonus point for their efforts.

Pienaar pitched in with a try, five penalties and a conversion on his debut to lift a rather lethargic Ulster side into third place in the Magners League.

Glasgow were the superior side at the breakdown and continually denied Ulster to get on a roll as they scored the first try through DTH van der Merwe, with the mighty boot of fly-half Duncan Weir landing four penalties.

Pienaar nearly had the dream start to his Ulster career in the opening minute, but his crisply hit 52-metre penalty veered just the wrong side of the left-hand upright.

It was the only time that Ulster really had their mitts on the ball in the opening 10 minutes with Glasgow deservedly going ahead after making use of their steady stream of possession.

First, Weir slotted over a penalty then virtually from the restart, Van der Merwe was put clear down the left to touch down after Andrew Trimble had failed to collect a difficult cross-field kick.

Pienaar finally got Ulster on the board after 15 minutes with an angled penalty. That appeared to awaken the men in white from their slumber and after some spirited driving play from their pack, Pienaar rifled over his second penalty from close range.

The Springbok scrum-half was certainly ticking all the right boxes for the Ravenhill faithful and he further endeared himself to the crowd two minutes later when he took a pass around the blindside of a five-metre line-out and dived over in the corner. His touchline conversion was greeted with obvious delight.

Quick ruck ball almost brought Glasgow’s second try when Graeme Morrison fed short to Van der Merwe to run in only for the pass to be slightly forward.

Glasgow went in at half-time in the lead with Weir landing a brace of penalties, but Pienaar sneaked Ulster ahead again with his third penalty creeping over from 45 metres via the crossbar. The lead changed yet again in the 51st minute when Weir heaved over a tremendous penalty from eight metres inside his own half.

But man-of-the-match Piennar clinched a very narrow win for Ulster with his fifth penalty in the 74th minute. Coach Brian McLaughlin will not be happy with the overal performance, particularly with the European campaign starting next week against Aironi.

Scorers for Ulster: R Pienaar try, con, 4 pens.

Scorers for Glasgow: DTH Van der Merwe try; D Weir 4 pens.

ULSTER: J Smith (McIlwaine, 77); A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace, S Danielli; N O’Connor (Whitten, 67), R Pienaar; B Young (P McAllister, 76), R Best, capt, T Court, D Tuohy (Barker, 51), J Muller, P Wannenburg, R Diack, C Henry.

GLASGOW: B Stortoni; DTH van der Merwe, M Evans, G Morrison, F Aramburu; D Weir (Jackson, 70), C Gregor (Ryan, 75); J Welsh, F Thomson (MacArthur 60), M Low (Kalman, 70), T Ryder (Muldowney, 70), R Gray, R Harley, J Barclay capt, R Vernon (Forrester, 73).

Referee: Stefano Penne (FIR)