Ulster 28-43 Barbarians
Last updated 2nd Jun 2017
Ruan Pienaar and Roger Wilson made their final appearances for Ulster in a defeat to the Barbarians in Belfast.
The invitational side showed only flashes of their trademark attacking rugby with 2 fine scores coming from Waisea Nayacelevu - but they also scored 3 tries from the back of rolling mauls, and were awarded a penalty try following a scrum.
Ulster opened the scoring in the 6th minute as Stuart McCloskey broke the Barbarian's line 5 yards inside their half, and powered through to touch down.
Roger Wilson was given the unlikely role as place kicker, and with the grace of a seasoned ten, he knocked over the resulting conversion to add the extras.
McCloskey turned creator 5 minutes later, kicking ahead for young winger Mark Keane, who chased in behind the defence and scored.
Corey Flynn drove over from close range as the Barbarians replied in the 20th minute.
Only 3 minutes later, Nayacelevu flew over in the corner to complete a quickfire double.
Just after the half hour mark, they moved ahead for the first time in the match. Chris King rumbled over from close range following a 5 metre lineout.
The home side quickly restored their lead though as Callum Patterson found himself well placed at the back of a maul to score.
Ruan Pienaar's subsequent conversion proved to be his final action in an Ulster shirt as he left the field shortly before half time, just before King added his second try.
It was Ulster who began moving the scoreboard in the 2nd half with Pete Browne showing decent feet to buy space and crash over from 10 yards following a quick penalty.
The game had lacked the fluidity and attacking flair fans would have expected from the Barbarians, and this was perhaps best summed up when they were awarded a penalty try in the 55th minute.
With the invitational side attempting another close-range maul, an Ulster boot cynically knocked the ball away.
There was a brief moment of magic as Nayacelevu rounded off a cleverly worked move off the back of a penalty on the hour mark.
Masoe soon got himself sin-binned for a high tackle, but there was still time for Joe Tekori to score under the posts.
The conversion was tapped over by the retiring Thierry Dusautoir, awarded the man of the match award in his last game as a professional.