JACKSON COLUMN: Ulster looking to return to promised land

Hanging on to an improbable away win in defiance of overwhelming odds is the priceless hallmark of a champion. Should Ulster finish the season by winning Belfast's first Final of the GUINNESS PRO12, they will look back with pride to what they achieved on a wintry night at BT Murrayfield.

Beating a resurgent Edinburgh was always going to be a tough ask with 15 men. Centre Stuart McCloskey's red card left them no option but to endure the last quarter with 14, an exercise in survival which became infinitely more difficult when Franco van der Merwe's yellow reduced them to 13 with five minutes still to go.

Leighton Hodges had proved as good as his word. ''Next one is going into the bin,'' the Welsh referee told Ulster captain Roger Wilson as his besieged team conceded another penalty before losing their South African lock.

Some wayward throwing by substitute hooker James Hilterbrand undermined Edinburgh's search for the winning try. When they did secure possession, Ulster's depleted white line held firm towards the end of a night when fly half Tom Heathcote missed some shots at goal.

It left Edinburgh to pay the penalty, a heavy one considering that a win would have hoisted them into the top-six Champions' Cup territory, if only temporarily. For Ulster, held together by Ruan Pienaar's generalship in both half-back positions, it was a classic illustration of the cliché about winning ugly.

Head coach Neil Doak used the words himself, acknowledging that in terms of ugliness 'that was a wee bit too ugly' for his liking. Ulster's reward for their resilience put them on top of the table only to be replaced within 24 hours by Glasgow Warriors.

The Ospreys pushed them so hard for so long at Scotstoun that Glasgow's finest required a late Peter Horne penalty to clinch a precious home win, their 15th in a row in the Guinness PRO12 since losing to the Newport Gwent Dragons way back in November 2013.

Like Edinburgh, the Ospreys were left to rue two early penalties missed by Sam Davies. Three defeats in their last four outings have cost the Welsh challengers a lot of ground in a short time, from first to fifth.

At the turn of the year, the Ospreys and Warriors led the way with almost identical playing records. Now the former triple champions from Swansea are seven points adrift of their rivals and out of the play-off zone for the first time this season.

Two more Irish provinces with five European Cups between them now occupy third and fourth places. Both Leinster and Munster had to come from behind last weekend, the defending champions to see Zebre off at the RDS, Munster to seize a draw against the Scarlets in Llanelli.

They did so in a manner worthy of comparison with those unforgettable deeds which has long made them the supreme escapologists of the European game. Twelve points down going into the last five minutes, they responded in the finest Munster tradition.

Scarlets lock George Earle was still on his way to the sin-bin when Felix Jones' unconverted try cut the deficit to 18-25. Their opponents' subsequent concession of a penalty was all Munster needed to complete their recovery and make their numerical advantage count.

JJ Hanrahan's try between the posts in stoppage time ensured a draw given the formality of Ian Keatley's conversion. In that respect, Munster were merely emulating Ulster and their visit to the Parc y Scarlets on the first weekend of the season when they, too, came from a long way behind to draw 32-32.

For a team unable to win on the road this season not just in the Guinness PRO12 but in the European Champions and LV=Cups to boot, the home draws have cost enough to keep them out of the top six. Connacht's win over the Dragons at Rodney Parade ensured they returned there instead, albeit ten points behind the play-off zone.

Having surprised Leinster in Dublin the previous week, Lyn Jones' team found a notable Irish double slightly beyond their reach. Unlike Ulster, they were not able to offset the damage of a red card, as given to Dragons' skipper Rynard Landman for elbowing Connacht's Jack Carty.

A losing bonus point may not have been much by way of consolation but it was enough to lift the Dragons up one place in the table above their neighbours and ancient rivals, Cardiff Blues.

Treviso welcomed the Welsh capital region to their corner of Italy with their biggest win of the season. They had the four-try bonus point, only their second of the season, all wrapped up by half-time before emphasising their superiority with a fifth from Henry Seniloli in the opening minute of the second half.

At the other end of the table, the top four have changed on an almost weekly basis. It will change again this weekend as the race to make the Play-Offs in May becomes ever more intensive.

Ospreys-Leinster at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night will be of crucial significance in determining whether Wales' foremost region make the semi-finals and whether the holders are to finish in the familiar surrounds of a sixth successive Final. Five of their last seven fixtures are on the road.

Saturday's outstanding match features Munster against the Warriors at newly developed Irish Independent Park (Musgrave Park of old), third against first. Thomond Park belonged to Glasgow last season when Sean Maitland, Jonny Gray and Josh Strauss scored the tries in an emphatic 22-5 away win before a crowd of 14,000.

Munster will demand nothing less than a win this time on the basis that they have lost to the Warriors far too often of late. A narrow home victory (21-18) on Clydeside before Christmas made it four in a row for Gregor Townsend's team since they lost heavily in Limerick in December 2012.

The top five and who plays who over the seven remaining rounds of the regular Guinness PRO12 season:

Glasgow Warriors: 1st - 52 points.

Home 3 (Zebre, Cardiff Blues, Ulster).
Away 4 (Munster, Leinster, Connacht, Ospreys).

Ulster: 2nd - 48 points.

Home 4 (Scarlets, Cardiff Blues, Leinster, Munster)
Away 3 (Newport Gwent Dragons, Connacht, Warriors)

Munster: 3rd - 48 points.

Home 4 (Warriors, Connacht, Benetton Treviso, Newport Gwent Dragons)
Away 3 (Ospreys, Edinburgh, Ulster).

Leinster: 4th - 47 points.

Home 2 (Warriors, Benetton Treviso)
Away 5 (Ospreys, Scarlets, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ulster, Edinburgh).

Ospreys: 5th - 45 points.

Home 4 (Leinster, Munster, Zebre, Warriors)
Away 3 (Benetton Treviso, Cardiff Blues, Connacht)

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