Six-try Ulster dominate Ospreys in Belfast

United Rugby Championship

Ulster: (24) 36

Tries: McCormick 2, Stockdale 2, Penalty try, Marcus Rea Cons: Cooney, Doak

Ospreys: (7) 12

Tries: Parry, Giles Cons: Edwards

Ulster clinched their second bonus-point win in succession as Richie Murphy's side ran in six tries to beat Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship.

Jacob Stockdale and James McCormick both crossed twice, the latter for his first tries in senior rugby.

Missing a whole host of key figures, Ospreys responded with a try in each half as Sam Parry and Keelan Giles crossed the line, but never felt in the game from when Ulster took control with two early tries.

Having beaten Connacht in Belfast six days prior and Glasgow to start the campaign, the comfortable victory ensured the Irish province racked up an eighth successive home league win.

Ospreys travelled to Kingspan Stadium with one win from their four games played and decimated by absentees.

While Ulster were without Irish internationals like Iain Henderson and Rob Herring, the return of the Emerging Ireland contingent gave boss Murphy a stronger deck to pick from than in recent weeks.

The disparity between strength of available squads was stark in the first-half as Ulster scored four times and had the ball over the whitewash on three further occasions.

There were only five minutes on the clock when, after a scrum penalty won against the head, Ulster's pack mauled their way over the line with hooker McCormick dotting down.

Five minutes later a burst from Cormac Izuchukwu, the flanker making his return from that Emerging Ireland trip, allowed David McCann to send Stockdale into space with the in-form winger needing no second invitation to finish off in the corner.

The usually accurate John Cooney missed both conversions, though, to keep the score at 10-0.

A penalty try for the hosts also meant Kieran Hardy entered the sin-bin for infringing at the maul and the hosts thought they had the bonus-point try from the ensuing restart only for a belated TMO intervention to rule out the length-of-the-field score for a forward pass.

Eight minutes before the break they would have that try bonus when, after a series of pick and goes up against the Ospreys' line, Marcus Rea crashed over from close range.

The visitors did respond through Sam Parry with the last play of the half, but it was always going to take a herculean effort to get back into the game.

Ireland winger Jacob Stockdale scored twice at Kingspan Stadium

With half an hour to go, it was Ulster who scored the first points of the second half when McCormick got over for his second try of the game, this time scoring from a tap and go from five metres out.

Ulster would spend 10 minutes of the second half a man down after Harry Sheridan was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, but Ospreys could not make the most of their numerical advantage.

While they did score from a well-worked tap penalty as Tom Florence's floated pass put winger Giles over in the corner, the missed conversion ensured they lost the sin-bin period 7-5 after Stockdale grabbed his second try and Nathan Doak added the extras to finish off the scoring.

Ulster: Lowry; Kok, Carson, McCloskey, Stockdale; Morgan, Cooney; O’Sullivan, McCormick, O’Toole; O’Connor (capt), Sheridan; Izuchukwu, Marcus Rea, McCann.

Replacements: McElroy, Reid, Wilson, Treadwell, Matty Rea, Doak, Humphreys, Postlethwaite.

Yellow card: Sheridan

Ospreys: Walsh; Kasende, Boshoff, Williams, Giles; Edwards, Hardy; G Thomas, Parry, Warren; Greatbanks, Jones; Lloyd, Tipuric, Morris (capt).

Replacements: Lewis, Phillips, Iowerth-Scott, R Thomas, Gemine, Morgan-Williams, Florence, Nagy.

Yellow card: Hardy