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Ulster returned to the top of the United Rugby Championship as they swept aside Cardiff at Kingspan Stadium.

Kirby Myhill and James Ratti crossed for the visitors in the second half.

Ulster move one point above Leinster, who can reclaim first place when they play Benetton on Saturday.

The inter-provincial rivals will meet in Belfast next Saturday, 12 March with both sides set to be missing the majority of their Ireland contingent with the international side in Six Nations action at Twickenham on the same afternoon.

Cardiff remain 12th in the table with with multiple games in hand over all the teams above them, having been restricted to just eight league games so far this season.

Quick start aides Ulster dominance

Ulster’s desired fast start came courtesy of Baloucoune and James Hume, two of the players released from Ireland’s Six Nations camp for the fixture.

Baloucoune is yet to make his tournament bow for Ireland but has made try-scoring returns for Ulster twice during the competition to provide a reminder of what he has to offer.

On this occasion he benefitted from a hugely fortuitous bounce that saw Billy Burns’ cross-field kick flip over the head of Hallam Amos into the Ulster wing’s arms, allowing him to turn on the jets and slalom between two Cardiff defenders to score.

The visitors unsurprisingly displayed early signs of rust having not played in five weeks, and their cause was not helped when Willis Halaholo was shown yellow for making a tackle while off his feet after 12 minutes.

Cardiff had in fact set up good field position in the next passage of play before Hume perfectly read Jarrod Evans’ floated pass to claim it one-handed and run from inside his own 22 to extend his side’s lead.

Cardiff were 15-0 down despite not having been under immense pressure. It was the inability to convert promising positions into points that was their undoing in the first half.

They knocked on a line-out from seven metres out before Josh Turnbull fumbled just two metres from the line as they brutally botched a close-range penalty.

By contrast, Ulster were taking their chances and compounded Cardiff’s misery in the last act of the half when Nick Timoney burst through the line, before McCloskey spotted a gap at the fringe of a ruck to dive across the line.

Cardiff struggle for foothold as hosts dominate

Cardiff too had a number of returning Wales internationals on show as they welcomed back Josh Navidi for his first appearance in four months.

However the flanker was unable to assert his usual influence on the game as Cardiff struggled to find any semblance of momentum despite getting themselves on the scoreboard when Myhill finished Rey Lee-Lo’s break in the corner.

The try did little to disrupt Ulster’s control of the contest; and the hosts soon found the bonus-point try when Nick Timoney bounced off a tackle to power over on 50 minutes.

The score of the game came four minutes later when Stewart Moore, excellent all game from his less-familiar position at full-back, glided past Aled Summerhill on the outside and fed Baloucoune on the touchline, who again backed his electric pace to surge over to the delight of the home fans.

The Ulster support were given further reason to cheer when 21-year-old Sexton – a former Irish underage sprinter – was played into space on the left wing to coast over for his first senior score.

Tom Stewart mauled over for a seventh try to heap more misery on Cardiff, who did find the final score through James Ratti before Ulster were denied another sensational late effort with Hume finishing off a coast-to-coast move that was`brought back for a forward pass on halfway.

Ulster: Moore; Baloucoune, Hume, McCloskey, Moxham, Burns, Doak; McGrath, Andrew, Moore, O’Connor, Henderson (Capt.); Murphy, Marcus Rea, Timoney.

Replacements: Stewart, Reid, Milasinovich, Carter, Vermeulen, Cooney, Madigan, Sexton.

Cardiff: Amos; Lane, Lee-Lo, Halaholo, Summerhill; Evans, L Williams; Thyer, Myhill, Arhip, Turnbull (capt.), Screech; Jenkins, Navidi, Botham.

Replacements: Assiratti, Carré, Davies-King, T Williams, Ratti, Hill, Thomas, Morgan.