Ulster 28-14 Glasgow Warriors

Ulster battled to a deserved win over Glasgow at Ravenhill in their opening match in the Pro12 League.

Glasgow started the better and led through an early try by former Connacht centre Troy Nathan.

Ulster hit back and led 15-8 after an intercept try by Darren Cave and a touchdown in the corner by their alert scrum-half Paul Marshall.

Ian Humphreys stretched Ulster's lead with three penalties before Chris Henry was pushed over for a late try.

The Irish province pushed for a fourth try but missed out on the bonus point.

Ulster may have won with a bit to spare in the end, but Brian McLaughlin's side only pulled clear against a brave challenge from the Scots who simply ran out of steam.

Fly-half Ian Humphreys kicked 13 points for Ulster.

It was by no means all one-way traffic as the visitors opened the scoring after 10 minutes when Nathan barged over the line near the posts, but Duncan Weir was guilty of a poor miss from the conversion.

Ulster responded with a Humphreys penalty before Cave snatched a try after intercepting Colin Gregor's attempted pass to Stuart Hogg.

Weir landed his first kick with a penalty to cut Ulster's lead to 10-8.

Ulster again responded and Marshall nipped over in the right corner for the province's second try after a Dan Tuohy drive.

Weir kicked a long-range penalty after Ulster failed to roll away in the tackle and the half ended with Ulster's lead cut to 15-11.

There was just one point in it when Weit slotted over another penalty, but that was to be the visitors' last score.

Humphreys immediately struck a long-range reply to put his side 18-14 up and then, just before the hour mark, landed a penalty from halfway to give Ulster some breathing space.

Ulster applied some late pressure and got their reward when Henry barged over near the posts in the 78th minute with Humphreys adding the extras and putting Ulster well clear.

"We were a bit rusty, but the plan was to get the win," said skipper Henry.

"It is disappointing the fourth try did not come but, for a first outing, we will take the win."

Ulster: D'Arcy, Gilroy, Cave, Spence, I. Whitten, Humphreys, P. Marshall, McAllister, Kyriacou, Cronin, Stevenson, Tuohy, Wannenburg, Faloon, Henry.

Replacements: Brady for Kyriacou (67).

Not used: Carey, Macklin, McComb, Diack, Porter, Jackson, Nelson.

Glasgow: Hogg, Seymour, Dewey, Nathan, Shaw, Weir, Gregor, Welsh, MacArthur, Cusack, Ryder, Harley, Eddie, Fusaro, Wilson.

Replacements: Horne for Seymour (54), Pyrgos for Dewey (62), Aramburu for Shaw (52), Grant for Welsh (12), Kalman for Cusack (52), Campbell for Eddie (66), Pitman for Wilson (58).

Not used: Gillies.

Ref: Leighton Hodges (RFU).