Ulster toil hard to secure 19-8 victory over Scarlets

Ulster 19 - 8 Scarlets

The Ulstermen had to toil hard for a 19-8 victory against a weakened Scarlets side at the Kingspan Stadium during the Pro12 clash on Friday.

Rob Herring and his men have now secured three wins from as many matches to reach the top pedestal of the 2016-17 Pro12 points table.

The hosts outscored the visitors by a try and a couple of penalties.

With the visitors drawing a blank at the end of the first-half, Les Kiss' men had to simply hold onto their lead.

Wing Louis Ludik (18) and replacement flanker Iain Henderson (79) scored tries for the home side, while replacement number-eight Will Boyde (74) was the lone try scorer for the visitors.

Fly-half Paddy Jackson failed to score a conversion on both the occasions, however, his three penalties proved handy to the Irish side.

Scarlets fly-half Rhys Patchell too failed to score the conversion, however, managed to successfully slot the only penalty opportunity presented to him.

With three defeats from three games, Wayne Pivac and his side need to get their ducks in a row before the clock runs out of time for this season.