Ulster 20 Cardiff Blues 3
A minutes silence was respectively observed at Ravenhill for the four miners who died while trapped underground in a flooded Swansea Valley colliery earlier in the evening.
The Blues and Ulster had both recorded two wins in the first two matches of the season and the match started with Ian Humphreys kicking with a strong wind behind him.
Using the wind he kicked a penalty after five minutes for an early lead after failing with an earlier attempt. There wasn’t much action in the opening 30 minutes as Humphreys missed two more kicks at goal.
The first try came from great break by Craig Gilroy with the wing was ankle-tapped just metres from the Blues' try-line. Darren Cave was on his shoulder supporting and raced in to score. Humphreys converted.
There was more bad news for the Blues only minutes later following an Ulster line-out. Nevin Spence showed quick hands in the build up before passing to Cave who slid in from some way out to score. Humphreys again converted to give Ulster a 17 point lead.
Half Time Ulster 17 Cardiff Blues 0
With the wind behind them the Blues tried to kick for territory in the second half but despite getting into some good positions they failed to capitalize on their territory. A line out was deemed not straight when only 5 metres out and later on handling errors in midfield saw the Blues knock on when inside the Ulster twenty two.
Frustratingly the Blues were also turned over five metres out and were dealt a further blow on 53 minutes when Xavier Rush saw yellow for a high tackle on Pedrie Wannenburg.
The Blues finally got on the scoreboard with 15 minutes to go, fly-half Sweeney landing a penalty.
However, Jackson added a late penalty for Ulster on a night that the Blues would rather forget.
Cardiff Blues
Tries
Pen Sweeney x 1
Con
D/G
Ulster
Tries Cave x 1
Pen Humphreys x 1 Jackson x 1
Con Humphreys x 2
D/G
15. Chris Czekaj 14. Alex Cuthbert 13. Casey Laulala 12. Gavin Evans 11. Tom James 10. Ceri Sweeney 9. Lewis Jones
8. Xavier Rush 7. Martyn Williams 6. Maama Molitika 5. Paul Tito (c) 4. Michael Paterson 3. Scott Andrews 2. T Rhys Thomas 1. Sam Hobbs
16. Rhys Williams 17. Nathan Trevett 18. James Monck 19. James Down 20. Thomas Young 21. Richie Rees 22. Rhys Patchell 23. Dafydd Hewitt
Ulster (15-9): J Payne; C Gilroy, D Cave, N Spence, I Whitten; I Humphreys, P Marshall;
(1-8): D Fitzpatrick, A Kyriacou, J Cronin, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, P Wannenburg, C Henry, R Diack;
(16-23): N Brady, P McAllister, A Macklin, N McComb, M McComish, I Porter, P Jackson, A D'Arcy
Yellow Card: Xavier Rush