United Rugby Championship: Ulster beat Edinburgh 16-10 to end home unbeaten record

Ulster ended Edinburgh's unbeaten record at The DAM Health Stadium to move up to fifth in the United Rugby Championship after a thrilling finish.

Edinburgh failed to make early pressure tell and Robert Baloucoune's try turned the game in the visitors' favour.

The boot of Nathan Doak kept Ulster in control until Mark Bennett touched down after his own chip over the defence.

But Ulster held on in the final 10 to end a three-game losing run and leave Edinburgh stuck in eighth place.

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It keeps alive the away side's hopes of a home play-off, while the losing bonus point guarantees Edinburgh's involvement in the knockout stage of the season.

However, they will face a tricky away assignment in either Ireland or South Africa, depending on how the final round of matches pans out.

Edinburgh fired out of the blocks, with James Lang breaking from deep straight from the kick-off, but the centre picked up an injury when he was eventually stopped on halfway and had to be replaced.

It was frantic and physical stuff, with three more players having to leave the field either temporarily or permanently before the game was six minutes old.

That included Edinburgh hooker Stuart McInally, who needed to go for an HIA after taking a blow to the head from Nick Timoney's shoulder, with the Ulster flanker being sin-binned as a result.

Edinburgh looked dangerous, but Ulster patiently turned the screw when they got into Edinburgh's 22 around the 10-minute mark and were rewarded when winger Baloucoune squeezed over in the corner.

Doak added the conversion and then kicked two penalties as the visitors took control before Emiliano Boffelli fired home an offside penalty just before half-time.

Doak had a penalty come back off a post before the scrum-half nailed his third success.

However, Edinburgh failed to clear their lines and the Ulster scrum-half got a second bite at the cherry a few minutes later following an off-the-ball push, and this time Doak nailed his shot at goal.

Edinburgh tightened their game up and a succession of penalties conceded by the visitors eventually led to a yellow card being shown to lock Alan O'Connor.

The home side kept plugging away and finally pulled it back to a six-point game with centre Bennett's clever finish, but Ulster held out under intense late pressure.

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair: "We're really frustrated. I spoke at the end about how proud I was of the second-half comeback and we obviously got really close to stealing it at the end there.

"I thought we were dangerous in attack and created opportunities that on another day we'd have taken. I believe we have qualified for the knock-out stage with the bonus point, so it's a start."

Edinburgh: Van Der Walt, Hoyland, Bennett, Lang, Boffelli, Kinghorn, Vellacott, Schoeman, McInally, Nel, Hodgson, Gilchrist, Crosbie, Watson, Bradbury.

Replacements: Cherry, Courtney, Atalifo, Philips, Muncaster, Pyrgos, Dean, Currie.

Ulster: Lowry, Baloucoune, Hume, McCloskey, McIlroy, Burns, Doak, Warwick, Herring, Milasinovich, Treadwell, Henderson, M Rea, Timoney, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Roberts, O'Sullivan, Kane, A O'Connor, M Rea, Cooney, S Moore, Lyttle.

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU).