Ospreys soar after Hook puts the boot into Ulster

James Hook inspired Ospreys to a 16-8 victory over Ulster at Ravenhill last night in an extremely tight Heineken Cup Pool Two contest. The hosts, beaten 48-17 away at the Liberty Stadium a week earlier, produced a much better display and led 8-6 at the break with Simon Danielli scoring a try.

But the visitors produced a spirited response. In a well-rehearsed line-out routine, The No 8 Filo Tiatia fed fellow Kiwi Justin Marshall and the scrum-half ran through for a match-winning try. Hook's conversion made it 13-8 to the visitors. The No 10's late penalty padded the final scoreline.

Ulster fought hard but were hampered by two yellow cards in the second half. Ryan Caldwell was the first to go for deliberately stopping the ball from coming out. Soon after he had returned to the fray another lock, Italian international Carlo Del Fava, was sin-binned for hair-pulling.

In the first half the Welsh club opened a six-point lead through two Hook penalties before Ulster's young fly-half Niall O'Connor, in for his first Heineken Cup appearance, landed a penalty on 17 minutes.

Then came Danielli's strong run to the left corner, from Tommy Bowe's short pass, which put Ulster into an unlikely lead.

* Samiu Vahafolau's two late tries spelt agony for Glasgow in a 21-14 defeat in Biarritz last night after leading for 75 minutes of the Heineken Cup Pool Four match. John Barclay's wonderful breakaway try in the first half had earlier fuelled Scottish hopes.