Five-try Ulster beat youthful Edinburgh in friendly
Zac Ward (left) and Jude Postlethwaite (right) both scored first-half tries for Ulster
- Published
Pre-season friendly: Ulster v Edinburgh
Ulster (19) 31
Tries: Izuchukwu, Postlethwaite, Ward, McCormick, Scott Cons: Murphy 2, Flannery
Edinburgh (0) 19
Tries: McConnell, Wells, Jones Cons: Thompson 2
Ulster ran in five tries as they warmed up for the new season with a largely comfortable victory over a youthful Edinburgh side in Belfast.
Ireland international Cormac Izuchukwu, Jude Postlethwaite and Zac Ward all went over for the Irish province in the first half, with James McCormick and Jonny Scott adding second-half tries.
Trailing 19-0 at the break, Edinburgh - whose travelling squad was shorn of Scotland internationals and included nine academy players - came back into the contest with tries from Liam McConnell and Lewis Wells.
The away side also scored the evening's last try at Ulster's recently renamed Affidea Stadium when Mikey Jones struck after home side replacement back Ethan Graham was yellow carded.
McCann impresses in fast Ulster start
Returning to action after a dispiriting 2024-25 season, Ulster opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Izuchukwu charged over from close range after a strong carry by David McCann.
With new signing Juarno Augustus not involved, number eight McCann was instrumental in the hosts' second try, too, as he set up Postlethwaite after a scrum in the Scottish side's 22.
Ward widened the margin four minutes before the interval when he charged and dummied his way through the Edinburgh defence for a fine individual score.
Ulster picked up where they left off after the restart when McCormick dotted down following a maul, but Edinburgh conjured a fine response.
Sean Everitt's team, who finished seven places above Ulster in seventh in last season's United Rugby Championship, threatened to make a comeback when replacement scum-half McConnell's score was quickly followed by Wells going over in the corner.
Scott went in under the posts for Ulster 15 minutes from time, but Edinburgh had the last say when Jones scored from a quick tap penalty after Ethan Graham was yellow carded for taking out Wells in the air.
Ulster open the 2025-26 United Rugby Championship campaign at home to Dragons on 26 September (20:05 BST), with Edinburgh away to Zebre the following day (15:05).
Ulster and Edinburgh meet again in the second round of fixtures in the Scottish capital on 3 October.
Line-ups
Ulster: Jake Flannery; Werner Kok; James Hume, Jude Postlethwaite, Zac Ward; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak; Callum Reid, John Andrew, Tom O'Toole; Iain Henderson (capt), Matthew Dalton; Cormac Izuchukwu, Sean Reffell, David McCann.
Replacements: James McCormick, Sam Crean, Scott Wilson, Harry Sheridan, Nick Timoney, Conor McKee, Jonny Scott, Ben Carson, Marcus Rea, Ethan Graham, Lukas Kenny, Wilhelm De Klerk.
Sin-bin: Ethan Graham (77)
Edinburgh: Jack Brown; Lewis Wells, Matt Davidson, Findlay Thomson, Ross McCann; Ross Thompson (capt), Hector Patterson; James Whitcombe, Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, Rhys Litterick, Christian Lindsay, Glen Young, Ollie Duncan, Freddy Douglas, Tom Currie.
Replacements: Mikey Jones, Harri Morris, Angus Williams, Euan McVie, Sam Skinner, Liam McConnell, Hamish Watson, Magnus Bradbury, Conor McAlpine, Cammy Scott, Ross McKnight, Charlie McCaig, Malelili Satala.