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Ulster's Nick Williams and Paddy Wallace celebrate at the end of the Glasgow game. ©INPHO/Presseye/Ian MacNicol
Magnificent 7

Heineken Cup: Winning ugly is a thing of beauty for unbeaten Ulster

The wins just keep on coming for Mark Anscombe’s men and the Dragons are next to be slayed.

THE WINS KEEP coming for Ulster this season and their current form has placed them alongside Clermont Auvergne and Saracens as the leading, early favourites for the Heineken Cup.

A Chris Henry try and some solid kicking from Paddy Jackson at Scoutstoun ensured that last year’s beaten finalists continued their unbeaten run.

Glasgow Warriors put up one hell of a Friday fight but Ulster coach Mark Anscombe is already targeting the 26 October visit of the Newport Gwent Dragons as another perfect way to kick-start a weekend.

He told TheScore.ie, “It’s never easy to come (to Glasgow) and get the victory as other teams, I’m sure, will find out. Castres have taken out Northampton so that leaves us at the right end of the table.

“We showed a lot of character out there, the way the guys battled through it, in tough conditions, against a very good team.” Anscombe added:

You’ve got to be able to work through things because the game of rugby never works the way you want it. If you don’t have that character to hang in there and battle through the tough times, you won’t come out of it at the right end.

“I think we’ve done that a few times this year and that’s a good benchmark to build from.”

“We’ve got the Dragons and Edinburgh before the (international) break,” Anscombe continued. “We don’t want to slip up at the moment, we have to keep our feet on the ground.”

Ulster captain Johann Muller, who has been ruled out of action for up to eight weeks with a thumb injury, also spoke to the grit and determination of an Ulster side that have been severely tested on and off the field in recent months.

“It wasn’t pretty but it never is over there,” he said. “(Glasgow) know how to spoil and how to make it really difficult, and they did, so credit to our boys.

“Four points in the bag is exactly what we wanted.”

As it happened: Glasgow Warriors v Ulster, Heineken Cup

Heineken Cup: Castres off the mark with win over Saints