The old Murrayfield pitch has suffered plenty of indignities this season but saved maybe the worst for last with Ulster grinding out an ugly Rabodirect PRO12 win over Edinburgh.
Contractors were moving to start laying the new hybrid playing surface once the stadium emptied after the final match there this season but the old, worm-infested grass had to suffer an almighty stinker in awful weather conditions with Ulster’s Paddy Jackson kicking three penalties to Carl Bezuidenhout’s single counter.
Edinburgh will play their final two home matches at Meggetland and allowed their fans on to the old pitch one last time at the final whistle to make their own entertainment, as what had passed for it beforehand was pretty desperate.
At least the home side tried to play some rugby without much ball against the big and experienced Ulster pack, but they were undone by a simply ridiculous penalty count of 16-4 against them, and home coach Alan Solomons refused to target Irish referee John Lacey for criticism.
“All I can say is that we will look at each and every penalty against us on the review and assess it,” he said.
“It’s pretty clear that there was nothing in the game and not much between the sides and that the penalty count against us has had a huge bearing on the game.”
Edinburgh had started brightly with a long series of phases and impressive retention of the ball, Grant Gilchrist and Cornell du Preez nearly slicing through but Ulster set their stall out defensively and won the key turnover.
Although playing almost the entire first quarter without the ball, the first chance the visitors gave the home side was a penalty on halfway. Bezuidenhout made it with something to spare to give his side the lead.
Edinburgh got a further lift when Ian Henderson went high on home skipper Mike Coman but Ulster not only survived the 10 minutes a man short, they levelled the scores with Paddy Jackson’s first penalty after a maul infringement.
The young fly-half kicked another just before the break after a scrum penalty as both sides struggled to hold on to the ball in the freezing wet conditions.
The rain finally abated in the second half by which time another scrum penalty against Edinburgh’s front row allowed Jackson to stretch his side’s lead to 9-3.
However, Ulster’s attacking intent was confined to bashing into a black wall of Edinburgh defenders without any pretence of trying to be creative, although they had much more of a grip on the ball in the second half.
A listless drop goal bid by Jackson was their only real scoring attempt for the last half-hour, while Edinburgh had two brief openings with the scant ball they managed to have in the wind.
Bezuidenhout’s long kick after a turnover had Craig Gilroy retreating and outnumbered in his own 22 but, although he was snared by Nick De Luca and Sam Beard, referee Lacey decided Edinburgh had infringed.
The home side’s final chance came when replacement Tomas Leonardi broke out into the Ulster half but Bezuidenhout overran him in support and Ulster were able to regroup.