Edinburgh 3-9 Ulster

Ulster stayed in touch with Pro12 leaders Leinster with a deserved if unglamorous win over Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

The hosts were unable to build on Carl Bezuidenhout's early penalty, despite Iain Henderson's yellow card for Ulster.

Paddy Jackson replied with three successful kicks out of four for the visitors.

And, Ulster were solid as they moved up to second, five points behind Leinster.

A losing bonus point moves Edinburgh above Dragons into seventh but Alan Solomons' side are 21 points off the play-off positions.

Edinburgh could not take advantage of Henderson's yellow card for this tackle on Coman

The Scottish side, playing their last match at Murrayfield before the parasite-infested pitch is replaced by a semi-synthetic surface, made a positive start only to come up against a robust Ulster defence.

Continued pressure forced the visitors to infringe and Bezuidenhout kicked Edinburgh ahead.

Henderson was then sin-binned for a high tackle on Mike Coman but Bezuidenhout's penalty fell short and Paddy Jackson soon levelled the score.

Jackson's second penalty was also successful but he missed shortly before half-time.

Scoring opportunities were remote as the much maligned pitch look a battering from the rain and the ball at times slipped around like a bar of soap.

And kicking remained the order of the day as Jackson increased his tally at the start of the second period.

Any attempt to get near the try line was repelled by Ulster's superb defence and, despite a late rally from Edinburgh, the Irish province side secured victory.

Edinburgh: Cuthbert, Fife, Beard, Strauss, Brown, Bezuidenhout, Hart, Dickinson, Ford, Nel, Gilchrist, van der Westhuizen, Coman, Grant, Du Preez.

Replacements: De Luca for Fife (41), Kennedy for Beard (77), Leonard for Brown (69), Leonardi for Coman (55). Not Used: Hilterbrand, Blaauw, McQuillin, Atkins.

Ulster: Payne, Bowe, Cave, L. Marshall, Gilroy, P. Jackson, Heaney, Court, Herring, Afoa, Muller, Henderson, Ferris, Doyle, Wilson.

Replacements: P. Marshall for Heaney (62), R. Lutton for Afoa (77), Diack for Ferris (42), Tuohy for Doyle (62), Williams for Wilson (59). Not Used: Annett, Warwick, McCloskey.

Att: 6,333

Ref: John Lacey (Ireland)