Ulster stay perfect with battling win at Southern Kings

Ulster maintained their 100 per cent start to the 2018-19 Pro14 campaign with a 28-7 win at Southern Kings on Sunday.

In a scrappy affair littered with penalties at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, the visitors only pulled away in the final 20 minutes thanks to tries from Marcell Coetzee, Angus Kernohan and Angus Curtis – the latter duo scoring the first of their senior careers.

Victory means Ulster are the only side to have won all three matches in Conference B, while the Kings remain bottom of the table with just two points to their name.

Ulster began brightly and forged ahead through two John Cooney kicks before both sides found themselves down to 14 in quick succession, Tienie Burger seeing yellow for the hosts before Alan O'Connor was also carded for an illegal clear out.

Another Cooney penalty further stretched the lead, but Ulster were a man light for another 10 minutes when Rob Herring was sin-binned at the end of first half for pulling down a driving maul.

The Kings capitalised early in the second period as Michael Willemse crossed at the back of a rolling maul, but when Ulster returned to 15, Coetzee barged over off the back of a scrum before Kernohan and Curtis opened their accounts to cap off a comfortable win.