Pienaar's haul lifts Ulster
Ruan Pienaar scored all Ulster's 22 points as the Irish side snatched victory at Glasgow to go second in the table.
Last Updated: 25/03/11 10:46pm
Ruan Pienaar scored all Ulster's 22 points as the Irish side snatched a last-gasp victory at Glasgow to go second in the Magners League table.
The South African scored a try, a conversion and five penalties, the last of which came in the final seconds, to deny the Warriors, whose sole try came from Ryan Grant.
Scotland fly-half Ruaridh Jackson booted 11 points, while his replacement Duncan Weir set up a tight finish with a late penalty.
The hosts held the upper hand in the opening exchanges, an early Jackson up-and-under causing havoc in the Ulster ranks. From the ensuing pressure, the home stand-off notched the game's first points, converting a straightforward penalty after Pedrie Wannenburg was penalised for a high shot.
Parity was restored in the 12th minute when Ulster fly-half Pienaar slotted a 40-metre penalty resulting from a front-row infringement in the scrum.
Having gone close to scoring the first try, the Warriors conceded another scrum penalty and Pienaar was handed a simple penalty chance which he stroked over.
The half closed with the Warriors once again on top but they could not turn territory into points and were made to pay when Pienaar thumped over a monster penalty from inside his own half to stretch the Ulster advantage to six points.
On 48 minutes it was the visitors' turn to infringe at the scrum and Jackson made no mistake from straight in front.
Breached
The Ulstermen's creaking defence was eventually breached when towering lock Ally Muldowney crashed through a lineout to charge down scrum-half Paul Marshall's kick. Muldowney showed great awareness to scoop the loose ball back to the onrushing Ryan Grant, who powered over from close range. Jackson added the extras.
Returning Ireland hooker Rory Best entered from the Ulster bench with 20 minutes to play, but his stay was short-lived as only minutes later he was ordered to the sin bin for an indiscretion at a ruck. Jackson added to his side's lead with the resulting penalty.
Pienaar atoned for a couple of penalty misses in perfect style with the game entering the final 10 minutes, scrambling over for a try which he himself converted.
Pienaar appeared to have secured the victory with a sweetly-struck penalty from halfway but Weir knocked over a long-range effort to set up a tense finale.
And it was left to Pienaar to have the final say, after backchat among the Glasgow ranks moved a long-range penalty into the South African's kicking range and he duly knocked over the winning points.
