CELTIC LEAGUE Ulster (10) 17 Tries: Ward, Feather Cons: Steinmetz (2) Pens: Humphreys Borders (6) 13 Try: Cusiter Pen: Hore Con: Hore DG: Warnock Att: 7,017

A Charlie Hore penalty and a Alistair Warnock drop goal helped the Borders to a 6-3 lead after 30 minutes.

However, Andy Ward's try before half-time converted by Paul Steinmetz left Ulster 10-6 ahead at the interval.

A converted try by Chris Cusiter helped Borders back into the lead but Campbell Feather's late try sealed Ulster's win.

Ulster had enough possession in the opening skirmishes to put the Borders on the rack, but they found themselves 3-0 adrift when Hore fired over a second minute penalty.

Despite the territorial advantage, poor skills saw Ulster continually fluff chances to cross the try-line.

A third attempt from a drive in the 15th saw Scotland scrum-half Chris Cusiter yellow-carded after he had killed the ball under his own posts with Humphreys sweeping over the equalising penalty.

Tight-head Bruce Douglas was the second Borders player to be sin-binned in the 26th minute, again for killing the ball.

Campbell Feather attempts to gain ground for Ulster

Ulster still had problems taking their chances and it was a 14-man Borders side who sneaked ahead when fly-half Alistair Warnock banged over a dropped goal.

The one piece of class action from Ulster in the first half brought a much sought after reward from the excellent Steinmetz.

The New Zealander put in weighted cross-kick to the left-hand corner which found Ward loitering and he scrambled to touch down. With Humphreys receiving treatment for a leg knock, Steinmetz landed the touchline conversion for good measure.

The second half was a turgid affair apart from a brief five-minute period when both teams scored tries.

Firstly, Cusiter scrambled over in the 61st after good retention work by the Borders with Hore converting.

Three minutes later, Feather bundled his way over with Steinmetz again converting to give Ulster a very scrappy four points.

Ulster: B Cunningham; T Howe, K Maggs, P Steinmetz; T Bowe; D Humphreys, K Campbell; R McCormack, P Shields, S Best, G Longwell, M McCullough, A Ward, N Best, R Wilson.
Replacements: R Moore, R Best, C Feather, T Barker, P Wallace, N Doak, A Maxwell.