Ulster’s away day blues continued after they lost to Cardiff 21-19, on Saturday night.
Ulster took a 19-0 lead into the changing rooms at the break. But somehow, from a position of control, Ulster let their guard down and Cardiff took full advantage to run in three converted second half tries to halt a three-game losing streak.
Ulster also lost David McCann for 10 second half minutes following a needless tackle on Cardiff scrum-half Aled Davies. It just added to what was a night of frustration for the Irish side.
Even in a second half to forget, Ulster still had their chances.
Harry Sheridan went close to grabbing a fourth try and with just five minutes remaining, Nathan Doak almost snatched victory, but his penalty just dropped short which allowed the hosts to clear their lines.
“We’re massively disappointed. When you’re 19 points ahead you should see it out and win the game,” fumed head-coach Richie Murphy afterwards.
“The yellow card was needless and we just invited Cardiff to attack us and we kept giving them a free shot.
Searching for that elusive first-away win of the season, and also wanting to build on two wins in as many weeks, Ulster kicked-off in the knowledge that victory at the Arms Park would’ve saw them go fourth in the URC table at the end of the first block of fixtures.
And for most of the night, it looked that that would have been the case.
Playing with vigour and confidence Ulster took the game to their hosts.
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