Log in
Log in

Match Report: Ulster 22 Bath 18

by

John McMurtry

–

, ,

Ulster kept their Heineken Cup hopes alive this afternoon after mounting a spectacular comeback against Guinness Premiership side, Bath, to claim a 22 – 18 victory at Ravenhill. The win moves Ulster to second in their Pool, just two points behind leaders Biarritz who also fell to a shock 28 – 27 loss to Aironi this weekend.

Bath came out fighting this afternoon determined to come away with a win, having lost three of their previous games, and it only took three minutes for Baths’ Olly Barkley to give his side an early lead. An Ulster infringement allowed the centre to slot over his penalty from directly in front of the posts. Ulster 0  Bath 3.

Five minutes later, Ulster responded by piling on the pressure and as Stephen Ferris powered towards Baths’ try line, Ulster tried to recycle the ball. However, a loose pass from Ian Humphreys was intercepted by Bath fullback Jack Cuthbert who ran – rather impressively – from his own 22 to score a magnificent solo try. A stunned Ulster team and Ravenhill crowd could only watch on as Barkley added the conversion, taking the score to Ulster 0 Bath 10. Ulster had to wait until twelve minutes had . . .

You will need to log in or register to read the rest of this article. If you have not already registered you can click here to register.

In 2022 we added 102,631 new images in 510 galleries with a gallery breakdown of 263 Rugby, 217 Hockey and 30 Athletics. Your registration and subscription will help us to continue.

Thanks.

, , , , , , , ,

2 responses to “Match Report: Ulster 22 Bath 18”

  1. Johnny King

    I thought Peter Bills’ article in the Belshaft Bellylaugh was fairly spot on. Ulster are flattering to deceive. Bath produced easily the worst performance of any English team that has played at Ravenhill in the professional era. How many games this season has it been said, “if only Ulster could cut out the basic mistakes”? Yet they keep being made.

    Ulster were vastly superior but made a poor Bath side look good through choosing poor options and making schoolboy errors. Apart from the Ferris break we didn’t look as though we could breach the gainline. Our back play was sadly predictable. Pienaar and Humphreys both had mares. Thank the Lord the latter had his kicking boots on.

    Despite this, we should beat Bath this weekend as we are a much better team – if we play to our potential.

    Reply
  2. the mote

    Ulster won despite the early Christmas presents to Bath and if their backs had actually caught some of the passes Ulster could have lost the game . The FRU were of the opinion that Ulster shouldn’t have taken Bath on in the forwards but it was the Ulster forwards and especially the back row and second row who made the win possible my man of the match was of course Ferris but since he is well ahead in the voting I have voted for Muller whose line out work has gone unrecognised .

    My reason why I think taking Bath on up front is/was right is that their defence is well organised and their backline is heavier by far –thus running at them at speed is a bit like a Mini trying to get over a Bus the mini will always come off second best if they collide which is why Ferris was really the only player to frequently break the gain line.

    Do we have the same ref this week ? because when we played Bath pre season their front row by fair means and foul (mostly foul ) made mince of the Ulster junior front row and saturdays ref was up to every trick they pulled except the step back dropped scrum on the five yard line.

    Ulster should of course have gone for the quick heel instead of the the push ed slow heel penalty try . Bath had brought the wing in field leaving the Ulster wing unmarked on the narrow side. — a quick pick-up at 8 going narrow side was in my book a sure try .

    Reply

Corrections, comments or questions?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

IF in Doubt, sit them out

Download the UK Concussion Guidelines for Grassroots Sport Here

RUGBY
PRINTS AND DOWNLOADS

Latest In Provincial Rugby