Chris Henry and Andrew Trimble celebrate Trimble's try. BY: BBC Sport
Ulster dropped out of the Heineken Cup on Sunday afternoon at a sun scorched stadium:MK with two fumbles proving the decisive factors in this highly physical game.
An early mix up with Trimble and D’Arcy, leading to a Trimble knock on, and a fumble from D’Arcy, with the try line beckoning, were the costly mistakes that lost Ulster their place in the semi-finals. Ulster however can take some comfort in the fact that for large portions of this match they were the team playing the best rugby.
Ulster got off to the worst possible starts when D’Arcy and Trimble let an innocuous kick bounce in their own 22. With no-one taking control Trimble snatched at the ball, knocking on, to give the big Northampton pack a great attacking option in the Ulster 22. From the resulting play Northampton prop Tonga’uiha crossed the line barely two minutes into the contest. Stephen Myler converted to give the home side a dream start.
Ulster however worked their way back into the line with Danielli and Trimble coming in of the wing looking for the ball with good effect and two beautifully struck Humphreys penalties brought Ulster to within a point with the score reading 6 – 7.
Roared on by the vastly outnumbered but highly vocal travelling support Ulster began to look as if they had the beating of the hugely physical but tactically lacking home side and after a great exchange from Trimble and Danielli the blond winger carved his way through the defence to go over close to the posts to give Ulster a deserved 13 – 7 lead with Humphreys adding the extras.
Ulster pushed on and had a second try disallowed for a forward pass and tellingly Northampton finished the half on a positive note thanks to a Myler penalty.
Northampton made no pretences at playing any sort of attractive rugby turning the game into a physical confrontation as the second half commenced and the home team drew level nine minutes into the second half with Myler slotting over another penalty.
The home side continued their physical onslaught and things got a bit techy as the temperatures rose on and off the pitch, and with the referee allowing the home side to use blockers to take out the Ulster defence five yards in front of the ball the home team finally cleared enough space for the tactically limited Myler to finally risk moving the ball instead of kicking it away.
The controversial, decisive try came after a series of forward passes between Ben Foden and Chris Ashton out left sent Lee Dickson through for a try in a move reminiscent of Ulster’s disallowed chance. With Myler adding the extras, Northampton moved into a 20 – 13 lead.
Ulster should have drawn level moments later as the opened up the Saints defence once again with Adam D’Arcy just needing to catch the ball to score but with his fumble so went Ulster’s chance of a comeback.
It was a huge let-off for Northampton, and with Ulster leaving it too late to make use of their bench, with the valiant Best in particular tiring badly, the home side dominated the closing quarter adding a final penalty to push the final score to 23 – 13.
The FRONTROWUNION Says:
From the fans view this was a disappointing result as it was a game that we had a real chance to win. A few decision’s went against us and when Northampton upped the physical onslaught we were found wanting with our set piece falling apart in the final quarter. We always knew it was gong to be a physical contest and Northampton were quite limited with the use of their possession so it was somewhat surprising that the bench wasn’t emptied with twenty to go to freshen up the forwards.
Personally I’d have liked the whole front row changed out and Gilroy brought on for D’Arcy – might not have made any difference but at least it would have made Saints think rather than continue to let them pound away at our struggling front five who were out on their feet.
Northampton: Foden, Ashton, Clarke, Downey, Diggin, Myler, Dickson, Tonga’uiha, Hartley, Mujati, Lawes, Day, Dowson, Wood, Warren. Replacements: Waller for Tonga’uiha (74), Sharman for Hartley (79), Mercey for Mujati (79), Clark for Dowson (74).
Not Used: Sorenson, Commins, Geraghty, Reihana.
Ulster: Adam D’Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Nevin Spence, Paddy Wallace, Simon Danielli, Ian Humphreys, Ruan Pienaar, Tom Court, Rory Best, BJ Botha, Johann Muller, Dan Tuohy, Robbie Diack, Chris Henry, Pedrie Wannenburg. Replacements: Paddy McAllister for Botha (70), Ian Whitten for Muller (78), Tim Barker for Tuohy (56), Willie Faloon for Diack (62).
Not Used: Andi Kyriacou, Bryan Young, Paul Marshall, Craig Gilroy.
Att: 21,309
Ref: R Poite (FRFU)
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One Response to “Heineken Cup: Ulster fumbles lead to stumble.”
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Watched the game in the “Premium Stand” with a couple of hundred fellow supporters whose wives hadn’t let them go to Northampton either. General feeling was that the best team won but that Ulster had given everything. We simply couldn’t live with their pack in the second half. Their set pieces were so much better than ours. Still, as I explained to my devastated six year-old son, we’ll be playing for the same trophy again next year. Well done Ulster, you did us proud.
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