Unfortunately the match panned out pretty much as expected with Bath proving too powerful for the young Ulster side with the visitors running out winners by 14 – 26.
Bryan Young was withdrawn from the Ulster squad before the game, suffering a thigh injury on Thursday, with Paddy McAllister starting in his place and Tom Court added to the bench.
Bath started with a high intensity game and were unlucky not to go ahead early on with their handling letting them down. Ulster’s defence performed well initially, disrupting the Bath midfield with the English side looking a little clumsy as they tried to keep the ball alive in crowded conditions.
Ulster got the first score with Mark McCrea intercepting out wide to run 70 yards to score under the posts, showing obvious delight when he dotted down. It was a welcome break for the young player who had went through a difficult season last year.
The English side dominated the remainder of the first half and as their midfield moves began to stick they eventually equalised with Ross Batty scoring in the corner shortly after Ulster’s Tim Barker had been yellow carded for persistent offside.
Vesty converted and Bath went ahead before the break with, the big unit, Matt Banahan strolling through some weak Ulster tackles to touch down close to the posts.
By this stage Ulster had lost Paul Marshall to injury and lets hope he recovers quickly or our scrum half situation may soon become a crisis with Boss and Willis departing and Pienaar cropped.
I expected Ulster to come into the match more in the second half as the new combinations started to gel and as Bath switched out their starting fifteen but unfortunately it was mostly all Bath in the second half as well.
After losing Paddy McAllister to injury, after a collapsed scrum, Ulster conceded two more soft tries, first to Barkley and then Cuthbert, but Ulster had the last say in a scrappy second half with new signing Pedrie Wannenburg taking a quick tap and go after he’d been dumped by Banahan. The big South African showed good awareness and good strength to force his way over the line.
Wannenberg was the pick of the Ulster side and he definitely looks a class act. Muller looked a little of the pace as the game went on, but it’s understandable given his lack of game time due to his broken arm.
The game was a high intensity, high impact, warm up for Ulster (granted there were a few mistakes from both sides) and Ulster could easily have capitulated to a bigger score but the team showed good determination throughout. The main concerns were the defensive alignments for three of the tries, this definitely needs some work, and let’s hope the injury to Marshall doesn’t prove too costly in the early season.
Teams:
Ulster: (15 – 9) Jamie Smith, Mark McCrea, Darren Cave, Ian Whitten, Tommy Seymour, Ian Humphreys, Paul Marshall. (1 – 8 ) Paddy McAllister, Nigel Brady, Declan Fitzpatrick, Tim Barker, Johann Muller (c), Pedrie Wannenburg, Willie Faloon, Robbie Diack. (16 – 22) Andi Kyriacou, Tom Court, Adam Macklin, Neil McComb, TJ Anderson, Ian Porter, Niall O’Connor, Nevin Spence
Bath: (15 – 9) Nick Abendanon, Matt Carraro, Shontayne Hape, Olly Barkley, Tom Biggs, Sam Vesty, Michael Claassens. (1 – 8 ) David Flatman, Ross Batty, Duncan Bell, Stuart Hooper, Danny Grewcock, Simon Taylor, Lewis Moody, Luke Watson (c). (16 – 25) Lee Mears, Nathan Catt, Dave Wilson, Ben Skirving, Andy Beattie, Mark McMillan, Matt Banahan, Jack Cuthbert, Josh Ovens, Jacques Boussuge
Pictures from the match here on rugbypicture.co.uk and here on ulster-rugby-photos.co.uk. Thanks to Colin and Henry.
Our friends over on the UAFC have also been quick off the mark to post videos of the highlights as follows:
Try 1 Mark McCrae: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eYC2du2Wro
Tim Barker sending off and Try 2, Ross Batty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zQqA-Y4aGc
Try 3 Banahan – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmSzBupIBP0
Try 4 Barkley – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-A95DfLpFY
Try 5 Cuthbert – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zBxcWCnqgI
Try 6 Pedrie Wannenburg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJZx2wBiz5o
Mackin Yellow Card: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ref-UzdxbTc
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One Response to “Ulster 14 Bath 26”
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As I stated before the match I doubt if Bath learnt that much but I hope Ulster did and likewise the ref . No side drops a scrum on their own put in before the ball goes in.
Ulster suffered all night at scrum time due to the Bath front row . On the Ulster put in the Bath prop turned his head and dropped his chin thus Minimising the contact area for the Ulster front row and ensuing that once the push came on the pressure on the Ulster front row was downwards. On Baths put in the head was straight and the chin up to ensure the forward movement of the scrum, ie Bath were the cause of the scrum collapsing not Ulster.
Most of the second half was dominated by the fact that the Ulster scrum on its own put in couldn’t function and the referee’s failure to penalise Bath for illegal engagement of the scrumand pushing before the ball was put in.
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