Ulster hammer 'disappointing' Edinburgh at Murrayfield to continue unbeaten streak

• Edinburgh 14 Ulster 43

Ulster collected their eighth Pro14 win of the season, maintaining their unbeaten record at a canter against an Edinburgh side which now has just two wins from seven matches. Ulster once again claimed a try bonus point as they scored seven tries in a match which underlined the worrying disparity in the strength in depth of the Irish and Scottish sides. This win means that the four Irish Pro14 provinces have now played the two Scottish clubs eight times this season and won all eight.

Ulster arrived as strong favourites and former Scotland assistant coach Dan McFarland's side certainly look like a team who believe in themselves. They won the collisions, bossed the arm wrestle and were good value for a win that started as early as the third minute, when they registered their first try. With experienced half-backs John Cooney and Ian Madigan pulling the strings expertly, two more followed by 25 minutes and it looked as if the visitors might collect the try bonus point before the interval.

If Edinburgh showed real character to come back – at one stage they looked to have overcome a 19-point deficit to draw level before Jamie Farndale's score was chalked off – Ulster ultimately had too much for a side missing 23 players to Scotland and injuries. If four tries in the last quarter skewed the scoreboard, there was no doubting which was the better side.

“That was disappointing,” admitted Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill. “There were times when we got back in the fight and in parts of that second half you thought we might live with them but we made some errors that cost us. We're missing a lot of players and have got some young men but physically we were dominated across the board in the end.”

That domination started early. Ulster's first try came after just three minutes when hooker John Andrew made the extra man down the right-hand touchline, feeding inside for centre Stewart Moore to go under the posts untouched, Cooney adding the extra points.

It took a while for the second score to come but when it did it was exactly the sort of try that Murrayfield has seen a lot of during Richard Cockerill's time with Edinburgh, only this time the lineout drive was employed against the home side. Having set up the first try it was Andrew who touched down as the first quarter ended.

With Ulster's forwards now firmly on top, the third try was not long coming. Five minutes later the game's most influential player, Ulster No 8 Marcell Coetzee, came off the back of a five-metre scrum and, after being held up just short, Cooney picked and wriggled over for his 10th try in the last 18 games, the scrum-half also converting his own score.

While Edinburgh were clearly outgunned up front, they tried to work their way back into the game by their forwards keeping the ball tight and patiently making hard yards down the centre of the park. As they eventually worked their way into the Ulster 22, Henry Pyrgos went close and so did prop Lee-Roy Atalifo, who attempted to dive over a ruck to ground the ball in NFL style, only to be held up short. When the ball was eventually moved wide, James Johnstone did well to offload in the tackle, full-back Jack Blain coming back on the angle to go over and become the first Edinburgh player born in 2000 to score for the home side. Nathan Chamberlain's conversion brought the deficit back to 12 points and temporarily stopped the rot.

If Edinburgh were to work their way back into the game then they needed to score first after the break and they started brightly, winning a penalty almost in front of the posts. Instead of taking the points they kicked for the corner, moving the ball infield but gradually being forced backwards. The momentum looked to have been halted when the excellent Blain trucked the ball up, fighting for every inch as he muscled his way over the gainline. When Eroni Sau took the ball on, he looked to have been stopped on the line but somehow offloaded from his shoulder for Blain to flop over, Chamberlain's conversion making it 14-19.

Moments later Edinburgh looked to have drawn level when a long-range Chamberlain penalty came back off the upright and Jamie Farndale appeared to have touched it down, only for referee Craig Evans to rule that the wing had failed to ground the ball.

Matches turn on such things and this one certainly did. From the momentum being with Edinburgh, suddenly it was Ulster on the march. When they won a penalty from a lineout on the Edinburgh 22 on the hour mark, Madigan kicked to the corner and from the resulting meandering lineout drive, flanker Jordy Murphy was driven over to claim the bonus point for Ulster. To make matters worse, Bill Mata, just on after a period out injured, was yellow-carded.

With little more than 10 minutes to go and Edinburgh throwing caution to the wind, gaps began to appear. Cooney was once again the beneficiary when Madigan took on the home side's midfield defence, flinging an outrageous out-the-back offload to skipper Sam Carter, the big Aussie second row putting Cooney away for a try that killed this game off once and for all.

With the win now assured, Ulster drove home their advantage, two more lineout drive tries for Andrew giving the hooker an unlikely hat-trick to finish this contest with a dauntingly emphatic scoreline.

Match details

Edinburgh: J Blain; E Sau, J Johnstone (A Coombes, 70), C Dean, J Farndale; N Chamberlain, H Pyrgos; P Schoeman (S Grahamslaw, 78), D Cherry (M Willemse, 65), L Atalifo, A Ferreira (J Hodgson, 54), A Davidson, M Bradbury, L Crosbie (C Boyle, 78), A Miller (V Mata, 49).

Ulster: M Lowry; M Faddes, J Hume, S Moore, R Lyttle (A Sexton, 8); I Madigan, J Cooney (D Shanahan, 68); A Warwick (K McCall, 49), J Andrew (B Roberts, 73), M Moore (G Milasinovich, 50), A O'Connor (D O'Connor, 63), S Carter (capt), S Reidy, J Murphy, M Coetzee.

Referee: Craig Evans

Scorers: try Moore 0-5; con Cooney 0-7; try Andrew 0-12; try Cooney 0-17; con Cooney 0-19; try Blain 5-19; con Chamberlain 7-19; try Blain 12-19; con Chamberlain 14-19; try Murphy 14-24; con Cooney 14-26; try Cooney 14-31; con Cooney 14-33; try Andrew 14-38; try Andrew 14-43.