Ulster Rugby 14, Bath Rugby 26

Bath Rugby saw off an inexperienced Ulster side at Ravenhill tonight, running in four tries for the second successive week.

Despite fielding a starting XV that was close to full strength, Bath made heavy weather of the early exchanges in this pre-season friendly and quickly ran up a high penalty count.

The Ulstermen took the lead after wing Mark McCrae intercepted a pass and Ian Humphreys slotted the conversion.

Bath eventually hit their stride in the final five minutes of the half and ran in two quick tries.

Sam Vesty had a hand in both, throwing a missed pass to put hooker Ross Batty over in the corner for the first, and working a smooth scissors move with Matt Banahan for the second on the stroke of half time.

Banahan's try may have been assisted by some half-baked Ulster tackling, but the England wing struck a fine angle to beat three defenders from 22m out. Vesty slotted both conversions, the first an absolute peach from the tightest of angles.

It was the home side's turn to throw the ball around after the break, but stout defending from Bath kept them out.

The Bath pack began to turn up the heat and that created a platform for Bath, who crossed for their third try midway through the half courtesy of Olly Barkley's dancing feet from close range. The inside centre converted his own score.

Bath went over for their fourth touchdown on 68 minutes when Banahan conjured up an unlikely off-load to release replacement full-back Jack Cuthbert, whose dummy pass flummoxed the Ulster defence.

Vesty missed the conversion and Ulster hit back swiftly, flanker Pedrie Wannenburg crashing over from short range after taking a quick tap penalty. Humphreys converted, but by then the result was a foregone conclusion.

Skipper Luke Watson declared the performance an improvement on last week's 29-24 loss to Pays d'Aix in Provence.

He said: "What pleased me more than the result was the fact our processes were better this week - we were more accurate and precise.

"We have been trying different combinations as we have a whole bunch of new faces, so we are still finding our feet a little."