Six-try Ulster see off Ospreys in Belfast

United Rugby Championship

Ulster: (24) 36

Tries: McCormick 2, Stockdale 2, Penalty try, Marcus Rea Cons: Cooney, Doak

Ospreys: (7) 12

Tries: Parry, Giles Cons: Edwards

Ulster secured their second bonus-point win in succession as Richie Murphy's side ran in six tries to beat the Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship.

Jacob Stockdale and James McCormick both crossed twice, the latter for his first tries in senior rugby.

Missing a whole host of key figures, Ospreys would score a try in each half, with Sam Parry and Keelan Giles getting over the line, but never felt in the game from when Ulster took control with two early tries.

Having beaten Connacht in Belfast six days prior and Glasgow to start the campaign, the comfortable victory ensures the Irish province remain unbeaten at home so far this season.

Ospreys travelled to Belfast with one win from four games played and decimated by absentees.

While Ulster were without Irish internationals like Iain Henderson and Rob Herring, the return of the Emerging Ireland contingent gave Richie Murphy a stronger deck to pick from than in recent weeks.

The disparity between strength of available squads was stark in the first-half with Ulster scoring four times and having the ball over the whitewash on three further occasions.

There were only five minutes on the clock when, after a scrum penalty won against the head, Ulster's pack mauled their way over the line with hooker McCormick dotting down.

Five minutes later a burst from Cormac Izuchukwu, the flanker making his return from that Emerging Ireland trip, allowed David McCann to send Jacob Stockdale into space with the in-form winger needing no second invitation to finish off in the corner.

The usually accurate John Cooney missed both conversions to keep the score at 10-0.

A penalty try for Ulster just as the game entered the second quarter saw Kieran Hardy also sent to the sin bin for infringing at the maul and the hosts thought they had the bonus-point try off the ensuing restart only for a belated TMO intervention to rule out the length-of-the-field score for a forward pass.

Eight minutes before the break they would have their try bonus when, after a series of pick and goes up against the Ospreys' line, Marcus Rea crashed over from close range.

The visitors did respond through Sam Parry with the last play of the half, but it was always going to take a herculean effort after the turn to get back into the game.

Instead, with half an hour to go, it was Ulster who scored the first points of the second half when McCormick got over for his second try of the game, this time scoring off a tap and go from five metres out.

Ulster would spend ten minutes of the second half a man down after Harry Sheridan was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, but the Ospreys could not make the most of their numerical advantage.

While they did score from a well-worked tap penalty as Tom Florence's floated pass put winger Keelan Giles over in the corner, the missed conversion would ensure they lost the sin-bin period 7-5 after Stockdale grabbed his second of the night in the corner and Nathan Doak added the extras to finish off the night's scoring.

Ulster: Lowry; Kok, Carson, McCloskey, Stockdale; Morgan, Cooney; O’Sullivan, McCormick, O’Toole; O’Connor (capt), Sheridan; Izuchukwu, Marcus Rea, McCann.

Replacements: McElroy, Reid, Wilson, Treadwell, Matty Rea, Doak, Humphreys, Postlethwaite.

Yellow card: Sheridan

Ospreys: Walsh; Kasende, Boshoff, Williams, Giles; Edwards, Hardy; G Thomas, Parry, Warren; Greatbanks, Jones; Lloyd, Tipuric, Morris (capt).

Replacements: Lewis, Phillips, Iowerth-Scott, R Thomas, Gemine, Morgan-Williams, Florence, Nagy.

Yellow card: Hardy