Nathan Doak was the hero of the day as his late conversion saw Ulster snatch a dramatic 30-28 win over the Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

Ulster had lost three consecutive league fixtures heading into this fixture against their fellow strugglers but now climb up to 12th in the table.

This game felt like a pivotal one for both teams to reset their season, so a fast start was crucial. It was the Scarlets who got that lucky break as Macs Page dotted down after just five minutes.

A cheeky box-kick from scrum-half Gareth Davies unlocked the stubborn Ulster defence, and winger Page raced to pick up the ball and dot down under the sticks. They were at it again just six minutes later too, as Ioan Nicholas added their second.

With pressure already mounting on the hosts, Ulster needed a response, and they got it through Nick Timoney as he flopped over from the base of a strong lineout maul.

Ulster managed to chip into the Scarlets lead in the waning minutes of the first-half, as Jack Murphy knocked over two penalties, before Ioan Lloyd responded with one of his own to make it 15-13 at the break.

Both sides exchanged further penalties at the start of the second-half too, with Murphy and Lloyd adding one more to their respective tallies.

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The nip-and-tuck continued as they swapped tries in the following 10-minute period. The hosts were the first over the whitewash, as Callum Reid powered over from short-range, before Vaea Fifita added his name to the scoresheet after Alec Hepburn’s clever interception and offload saw him canter home from 60 metres.

This swung momentum back towards Dwayne Peel’s side, and they made it count through another Lloyd penalty kick, punishing the lead out to five.

Ulster quickly sparked back into life though, and it nearly saw them take the lead too.

A spot of Welsh ill-discipline gifted them a lineout within touching distance of the line, but just as the maul looked to be heading over the line the Scarlets stopped it in its tracks and won the ball back.

This proved to be but a momentary reprieve, however, as Timoney burrowed his way over the line after some strong pick-and-goes from the rest of the pack.

Pressure was on replacement kicker Doak, with the game on the line and just a minute left on the clock, but he slotted the easy conversion to end a run of three-straight league defeats.

The teams

Ulster: 15 Stewart Moore, 14 Michael Lowry, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jack Murphy, 9 Conor McKee, 8 James McNabney, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Matty Rea, 5 Matthew Dalton, 4 Alan O’Connor (c), 3 Scott Wilson, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Callum Reid
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Sam Crean, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 David McCann, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Jake Flannery, 23 Jude Postlethwaite

Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Macs Page, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Tomi Lewis, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Jarrod Taylor, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Max Douglas, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Sam Wainwright, 2 Ryan Elias (c), 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Sam O’Connor, 18 Gabe Hawley, 19 Jac Price, 20 Vaea Fifita, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Steff Evans

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Padraic Reidy (IRFU), Paula Haycock (IRFU)
TMO: Rob McGreer (SRU)

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ulster-snatch-dramatic-late-victory-over-scarlets-to-end-rotten-run-of-form-in-urc