All hail the tiny warrior! Paul Marshall celebrates with the team after scoring Ulster's fourth try to put them in command of Pool 4. Picture from Darren Kidd|Presseye.
Ulster battered their way to a 41 – 7 bonus point win over Leicester last night ensuring some form of European participation come April.
Two first half tries from Andrew Trimble, combined with two penalties and a conversion from Ruan Pienaar, gave Ulster a deserved 18 – 7 lead at the break. With the old stadium rocking things got better in the second half as Ulster completely overwhelmed their opponents to add tries from Craig Gilroy and Paul Marshall to secure the bonus point with Pienaar adding three penalties and two conversions in an exemplary kicking display.
Despite the scores going to the pretty boys in the backs it’s the forwards who deserve the plaudits as they completely dismantled their opponents over the 80 minutes with Chris Henry outstanding. I’ve not been a fan of Chris playing at 7 but the converted no. 8 produced a remarkable display of open side play, featuring in everything that was good about Ulster and really getting under the skin of his opponents, who lost the plot completely in the second half.
I had predicted a high scoring bonus point win for Ulster there was no way that I thought that this game would be so one sided. Ulster started confidently and after a period of sustained pressure from the pack inside the Leicester 22 the ball was moved left for a looped pass to find Trimble on the wing in limited space. The Ulsterman cleverly stood up Tuilangi to force his way over in the corner for Ulster’s firstscore and Pienaar expertly added the extras converting from the touchline.
Ulster were working hard at the breakdown and got reward for their aggressive play just over five minutes later with a penalty from Pienaar a few meters inside the Leinster half, to take the score to 10 – 0, but it looked as though it was going to be a long night when moments later Geordan Murphy sliced through the Ulster defence with a great deal of ease, for a converted try, when Trimble tried for an intercept.
With the score at 10 – 7, the visitors worked their way into the game and enjoyed a period of dominance. Ulster had expended a great deal of energy in the opening exchanges and as Leicester began to get on top I was worried that Ulster would run out of puff with the English side coming out on top.
However, Ulster’s defence held firm and little by little Ulster began to re-assert themselves at the breakdown. Surging drives from Ferris, Afoa and Tuohy began to sap the energy of the Leicester pack and with Henry creating a nuisance of himself , whether the ball was nearby or not, the vibe from the game switched back in favour of Ulster.
The subtle change in dominance was confirmed with Ulster upping the tempo as the first half drew to a close . Pienaar added a second penalty to take the score to 13 – 7 and, with the match ticking into extra time some great chasing from Cave and Trimble forced a 5m scrum for the home side. The ball was fed to Trimble who repeated his earlier effort to slip over in the corner under the flailing Tuilangi. Pienaar missed the conversion from wide but Ulster were happy to turnround with an 18 – 7 lead.
The second half just got better.
Leicester had a chance to close the gap to eight with the visitors awarded a penalty in front of the posts after a confused restart from Ulster, probably Ulster’s worst feature of the game. However the Leicester out-half hit the posts from in front of the uprights and so clinical was Ulster’s recovery from the rebound that you could see the confidence draining away from the English side.
The three point miss turned to a six point gain five minutes later as Pienaar slotted over another long range effort and despite the impressive Cave going of injured, having given the Ireland selectors something to think about, there was no discernible drop in standard with the silky smooth Whitten coming on.
The forth and fifth penalties from Pienaar sealed the game with Ulster now leading by twenty points at 27 – 7 and the game looked to be over when the best move of the match looked to have sent Terblanche over in the corner for Ulsters third try. However, Henry had pushed the boundaries of his off the ball work just too far, taking two Leicester players out of the game earlier in the move.
As is the wont of English sides at Ravers, the visitors disintegrated into a playground of spoilt petulant brats stamping their feet and posturing at every decision that didn’t go their way. Referee Poite only put up with it for so long and following a temper tantrum, England prop, Dan Cole was asked to take a ten minutes break in the naughty corner for spitting his dummy out.
Ulster took full advantage of the extra man and with Paul Marshall coming on for Ian Humphries, Pienaar moving to 10 in a tactical move. The switch quickly bore fruit with Gilroy going over for Ulster’s third try after some lovely, lovely work from Pienaar, Terblanche and Wannenburg. It was double delight minutes later when Ulster’s diminutive scrum half, spotting a huge gap in the Leicester defence, took a quick tap from a penalty to romp over unopposed for the vital fourth try. Pienaar added the extras to give Ulster their 41 – 7 victory and Ulster closed the game out with the rendition of “Swing Low” raising the rafters!
| Teams |
ULSTER (15-9): Stefan Terblanche, Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Paddy Wallace, Craig Gilroy, Ian Humphreys, Ruan Pienaar. (1-8): Tom Court, Rory Best, John Afoa, Johann Muller (Captain), Dan Tuohy, Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry, Pedrie Wannenburg. (16-23): Nigel Brady, Callum Black, Adam Macklin, Louis Stevenson, Willie Faloon, Paul Marshall, Ian Whitten, Adam D’Arcy
Leicester (15-9): Geordan Murphy, Horacio Agulla, Matt Smith, Anthony Allen, Alesana Tuilagi, Billy Twelvetrees, Ben Youngs. (1-8): Marcos Ayerza, Rob Hawkins, Martin Castrogiovanni, Steve Mafi, Geoff Parling, Tom Croft, Jules Salvi. (16-23): George Chuter, Boris Stankovich, Dan Cole, Ed Slater, Ben Woods, Sam Harrison, Jeremy Staunton, Scott Hamilton.
| The FRU Review. |
Well! I had thought that Ulster would win this one with a bonus point but I thought it would be a lot closer than this. All credit to the pack for absolutely destroying Leicester at the breakdown and despite a few dodgy lineouts and, frankly, a few quite appalling restarts, they dominated most aspects of the game, even managing to get in top in the scrum as the game wore on.
I have not been a fan of Henry at open side, much preferring him at eight with Wannenburg as a straight swap for Ferris but, credit to both players, they had outstanding games with Henry, getting down and dirty with the best of them, easily deserving his Man of the Match award despite strong competition from most every Ulster player on the pitch.
I’ve been vociferous in my opposition to Ulster sending down Ravens side to Dublin for the Leinster game over Christmas but, in fairness to the coaching team, Ulster did look the fitter and stronger side as the game wore on and they looked in much better condition. I still look at the Leinster game as points thrown away, and the way that game panned out I still think this to be true, but that’s speculation and McLaughlin and his team have justified their decision with the results since, remaining unbeaten with four bonus points.
We definitely have a competitive team now, and one that should not be unduly concerned about travelling to Clermont next week for the Pool decider. That game will only be won by the team that believes in themselves most and if Ulster can overcome the psychological aspects, and convince themselves that they can win, I believe that they will. Extraordinary!
The title for this report comes from the second half introduction on Sky Sports where the anchor man got himself a little tongue tied as he introduced the second half. Mind you, I’m sure there were a few old dears tasting the sweet sex of success around Ulster last night by the time the crowd got home from this match! Oh er missus!
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6 Responses to “Heineken Cup: Ulster taste the sweet sex of success!”
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good report on the match John. Never been a big fan of monsieur Poite as a ref . but having watched a rerun of the game on sky+ He had a good game. The ulster forwards were superb in the loose, but one note of concern before going into next weeks game is the lineout throwing which was a bit wayward last night.
Unfortunately for Nigel Brady his 100th cap for Ulster was a bit overshadowed by the magnificent result – what a good servant of Ulster Rugby and congrats to Nigel.
The mellow sounds of the whole of Ravers singing ‘swing low sweet chariot’ came across well on Sky and was given a mention by the commentry team …. who during the match got a little confused with the Ulster winger David …… no Simon ….. or …. Stephen…. maybe even Andrew Trimble …. yes thats it !!!
There was of course the second verse of sweet chariot ….. which told the story of where it could go !! Priceless yet again.
As you said John …. Chris Henry was superb at 7 and certainly my man of the match.
So its off to Clermont- Ferrand on Friday to see the next thrilling installment of this years H cup Pool 4 decider, in the super stade Marcel Michelin. Bring it on and com on Ulsterrrrrrrrrrrrrr. SUFTUM
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Junty – off topic, but what are you flying out to Clermont? (apart from the obvious of course – by aeroplane
)
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Sorry, should have read.
Junty – off topic, but what way are you flying out to Clermont? (apart from the obvious of course – by aeroplane! )
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Flying to Paris on Friday then getting train to Clermont I believe.
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Parky – As RR says Easy jet to Paris then by train to Clermont
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Good game, with some good pace at times. Even Leicester was showing some speed on attack at times, but they just lost the plot in the second half.
Must say that I would have started going for the tries as opposed to penalty kicks earlier – but in the end it all worked out well.
Nice try by Marshall – Leicester must be kicking themselves.
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