At the end of a week when Danny Cipriani left a club for the fifth time, Gloucester’s entertainment value did not drop as they emerged victorious in a mad, marvellous match they had already won and lost. If neither side offered much evidence they will challenge for Exeter’s title, it was a release from the grind of the autumn, even if at times it lived up to an advert at the ground for comedy theatre. An example came at the end of a period when Gloucester had a two-man advantage, with Rob Herring and Alan O’Connor in the sin-bin for bringing down driving mauls that were close to Ulster’s line. It is a sign of where the modern game is that the home side struggled to adapt to their numerical superiority, unable to get hold of the ball for five minutes and then failing to achieve width. Herring and O’Connor were standing on the touchline when Lloyd Evans, the first-choice outside-half after Cipriani’s departure, threw a pass without looking and it bounced off Jordie Reid. The flanker picked up the ball and threw it forward to Evans who caught it and was promptly penalised. John Cooney decided to burn up the remaining sin-bin seconds by taking aim at the posts from just inside his own half. As he approached the ball, it toppled over and Gloucester were awarded a scrum. It was a game when both sides enjoyed periods of supremacy without taking control. Gloucester made a strong start when Chris Harris evaded Ulster’s midfield 45 metres out and started a move that ended with Mark Atkinson floating a long pass, which gave Louis Rees-Zammit the chance to get into a gallop before riding the tackles of Matt Faddes and Sean Reidy. Ulster were level within four minutes. Billy Burns, returning to Kingsholm, detected Atkinson rushing up too far in defence and stepped into the space the centre had vacated. Both sides lost their opening-round matches and they snatched at opportunities while battling for everything. Gloucester regained the lead through an Evans penalty before finding salvation via the driving maul. Herring saw yellow after Atkinson had been in possession as the backs joined in but it was O’Connor’s offence that was deemed worthy of a penalty try. The match was there for Gloucester, but they are not a team to make their followers feel secure. Ulster scored the only points when they were down to 13 through a Cooney penalty after Ciaran Knight fell on the centre Stuart McCloskey after the whistle had blown. When Atkinson finished off a driving maul two minutes after the restart following Evans’s long penalty touch-finder, the home side were 14 points ahead. Surely not even Gloucester could blow it. They tried and very nearly succeeded. Cipriani was not known for his tackling, but the home defence was no more secure in his absence. When Cooney sniped from a ruck and found the No 8, Nick Timoney, Lowry skipped into space and finished from 35 metres. Ulster sensed vulnerability. They were level before the hour when Rees-Zammit deliberately knocked the ball on near his line with James Hume free on the right, although it took the TMO to convince the referee the act merited a penalty try as well as a yellow card. Cooney’s 45-metre penalty on 65 minutes put Ulster ahead for the first time and the scrum-half secured a bonus point with a break from inside his own half. Just as they thought it was all over, Ethan McIlroy became the fourth player to visit the sin-bin after slapping away Rees-Zammit’s scoring pass to Kyle Moyle just after coming on with three minutes to go. The game’s third penalty try galvanised Gloucester and this time they knew how to work a numerical advantage. After a series of forward drives, they moved the ball for George Barton to settle a bonkers contest. “We are still a long way from where we want to be, but unity and hard work are setting the foundation,” said their coach, George Skivington.