Ahead of our 'Ulster Rugby Replay' of this season's opening Heineken Champions Cup game against Bath at The Recreation Ground, we take a look back at the match report for their fifth meeting in the history of the competition.
A John Cooney masterclass – and a match-saving interception from Jacob Stockdale right at the death – saw Ulster make a sensational start to their 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup campaign, edging out Bath in a veritable tug-of-war at the Recreation Ground.
An opportunistic try first-half try and seven points from the boot by Cooney, coupled with a Robert Lyttle score in the second period, saw Dan McFarland’s men over the line, but with a single point separating the sides in overtime, Stockdale’s superb tracking steal from Semesa Rokoduguni metres from home proved just as crucial.
In a match billed as the Battle of the Burns Brothers – Ulster out-half Billy pitted against his older sibling Freddie at full-back for the hosts – scoring opportunities were in scant supply thanks to solid defence and some poor handling from both sides, but Ulster critically took the chances that came their way, and return to Belfast with a priceless away win.
McFarland’s side brought their ‘A’ game to the Rec, with World Cup triumvirate Iain Henderson, Stockdale and Jordi Murphy all included in the starting XV, while Will Addison, Burns and Marcell Coetzee all returned after missing out against Munster in last Saturday’s Guinness Pro14 clash.
With Addison at full-back, Lyttle and Stockdale retained their starting berths on the wings, with the Luke Marshall – Stuart McCloskey tandem in midfield and Cooney named at scrum-half.
In the pack Jack McGrath and Marty Moore were named as props either side of last weekend’s try-scorer Rob Herring at hooker, while skipper Henderson teamed with Sam Carter on his European debut in the second row. Matthew Rea started at blindside flanker, with Murphy at openside and Coetzee in the Number Eight shirt.
As play got underway at The Rec, Bath out-half Rhys Priestland had the first chance to open the scoring after three frantic minutes, but his penalty from 40 metres veered wide after Carter had been pulled up for not rolling away.
Ulster were soon reshuffling their pack, with McGrath withdrawn after only eight minutes nursing a hand injury, and replaced by Eric O’Sullivan. Bath continued to enjoy the better of the possession as the first quarter wore on, with a Will Chudley charge-down of Cooney’s clearance on 11 minutes raising the alarm until the covering Addison hacked into touch.
The hosts proved somewhat wasteful with the resulting lineout, and the two scrum-halves were soon involved in another charge-down incident, Cooney this time blocking Chudley’s kick deep in the Ulster half and showing great pace to collect his own punt forward and outstrip his chasers to the line for the try.
Cooney converted his own score, and after a long phase of slow Bath ball around the half-way line, Ulster were forced into their second change of the afternoon, Carter leaving the field with a makeshift sling on his left arm and Alan O’Connor taking his place.
A long-distance penalty from Freddie Burns got Bath on the scoreboard on 25 minutes, and as the Ulster penalty count ramped up to five moments later, the full-back added a second from 25 metres to reduce the deficit to a single point.
A Mike Williams spill at the restart gifted Ulster a scrum inside the Bath ‘22’, but an Addison knock-on as play spread from left to right at speed put paid to any hopes of an immediate riposte, although another handling error – this time from Chudley – handed possession back to the visitors with two minutes of the half to go.
A steamroller tackle on Lyttle by his opposite number Rokoduguni raised an audible reaction from the Recreation Ground crowd, but Ulster did well to hold on to the ball well into over-time, until a no-arms tackle by Charlie Ewels presented Cooney with a simple penalty in front of the posts – which the scrum-half, who had yet to put a foot wrong in the game, put wide.
Half-Time Score Bath 6 Ulster 7
Ulster struggled to get their hands on the ball in the opening minutes of the second half, but exemplary defence kept Bath at bay until McCloskey intercepted on 50 minutes and hacked clear. In the opposition half for the first time in the period, a sublime line from Marshall got the visitors to within metres of the whitewash, but a hurried pass from Herring to Cooney brought another knock-on and a real opportunity missed.
As play suddenly opened up just before the hour mark, the second Ulster score came out of nowhere, Addison kicking a loose ball into a huge gap on the Bath left flank, and Lyttle collecting unchallenged to dot down, Cooney again adding the extras.
Bath were soon right back in it, however, with youngster Gabriel Hamer-Webb – only on the field for a matter of seconds – picking up on the left wing from Zach Mercer’s pass and outfoxing Addison with deft footwork to mark his European debut with a superb try.
The Burns conversion made it a one-point game once again, until the 66th minute when another high tackle – O’Connor this time the culprit – saw Priestland’s penalty nudge his side in front for the first time in the encounter.
Unflustered, Ulster took their time, eventually grinding out a penalty in the 71st minute, with which Cooney made no mistake. Chasing the game once more, Bath peppered the Ulster line with searching kicks, but Stockdale, Cooney and then Addison twice all collected flawlessly as the clock ran on.
A Bath infringement at scrum-time with three minutes to play bought Ulster valuable metres and seconds, but their game of keep-ball fell apart with 90 seconds remaining, leaving the travelling fans’ hearts in their mouths until an inspired sliding interception by Stockdale saved the day, as Mercer sought Rokoduguni metres from the line for a nailed-on try.
Ulster will now look to build on their excellent start when they welcome Clermont Auvergne to the Kingspan Stadium in Round Two on Friday 22 November.
Full-Time Score Bath 16 Ulster 17
Bath (15 – 9) Freddie Burns; Semesa Rokoduguni, Jonathan Joseph, Jamie Roberts, Ruarigh McConnochie; Rhys Priestland, Will Chudley
(1 – 8) Beno Obano, Tom Dunn, Will Stuart, Josh McNally, Charlie Ewels (c), Mike Williams, Sam Underhill, Zach Mercer
Replacements (16 – 23) Jack Walker, Lewis Boyce, Christian Judge, Elliott Stooke, Josh Bayliss, Chris Cook, Max Wright, Gabe Hamer-Webb
Ulster (15 – 9) Will Addison; Robert Lyttle, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, John Cooney
(1 – 8) Jack McGrath, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Iain Henderson (c), Sam Carter, Matthew Rea, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee
Replacements (16 – 23) Adam McBurney, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Sean Reidy, David Shanahan, Angus Curtis, Louis Ludik
Cooney converted his own score, and after a long phase of slow Bath ball around the half-way line, Ulster were forced into their second change of the afternoon, Carter leaving the field with a makeshift sling on his left arm and Alan O’Connor taking his place.
A long-distance penalty from Freddie Burns got Bath on the scoreboard on 25 minutes, and as the Ulster penalty count ramped up to five moments later, the full-back added a second from 25 metres to reduce the deficit to a single point.
A Mike Williams spill at the restart gifted Ulster a scrum inside the Bath ‘22’, but an Addison knock-on as play spread from left to right at speed put paid to any hopes of an immediate riposte, although another handling error – this time from Chudley – handed possession back to the visitors with two minutes of the half to go.
A steamroller tackle on Lyttle by his opposite number Rokoduguni raised an audible reaction from the Recreation Ground crowd, but Ulster did well to hold on to the ball well into over-time, until a no-arms tackle by Charlie Ewels presented Cooney with a simple penalty in front of the posts – which the scrum-half, who had yet to put a foot wrong in the game, put wide.
Half-Time Score Bath 6 Ulster 7
Ulster struggled to get their hands on the ball in the opening minutes of the second half, but exemplary defence kept Bath at bay until McCloskey intercepted on 50 minutes and hacked clear. In the opposition half for the first time in the period, a sublime line from Marshall got the visitors to within metres of the whitewash, but a hurried pass from Herring to Cooney brought another knock-on and a real opportunity missed.
As play suddenly opened up just before the hour mark, the second Ulster score came out of nowhere, Addison kicking a loose ball into a huge gap on the Bath left flank, and Lyttle collecting unchallenged to dot down, Cooney again adding the extras.
Bath were soon right back in it, however, with youngster Gabriel Hamer-Webb – only on the field for a matter of seconds – picking up on the left wing from Zach Mercer’s pass and outfoxing Addison with deft footwork to mark his European debut with a superb try.
The Burns conversion made it a one-point game once again, until the 66th minute when another high tackle – O’Connor this time the culprit – saw Priestland’s penalty nudge his side in front for the first time in the encounter.
Unflustered, Ulster took their time, eventually grinding out a penalty in the 71st minute, with which Cooney made no mistake. Chasing the game once more, Bath peppered the Ulster line with searching kicks, but Stockdale, Cooney and then Addison twice all collected flawlessly as the clock ran on.
A Bath infringement at scrum-time with three minutes to play bought Ulster valuable metres and seconds, but their game of keep-ball fell apart with 90 seconds remaining, leaving the travelling fans’ hearts in their mouths until an inspired sliding interception by Stockdale saved the day, as Mercer sought Rokoduguni metres from the line for a nailed-on try.
Ulster will now look to build on their excellent start when they welcome Clermont Auvergne to the Kingspan Stadium in Round Two on Friday 22 November.
Full-Time Score Bath 16 Ulster 17
Bath (15 – 9) Freddie Burns; Semesa Rokoduguni, Jonathan Joseph, Jamie Roberts, Ruarigh McConnochie; Rhys Priestland, Will Chudley
(1 – 8) Beno Obano, Tom Dunn, Will Stuart, Josh McNally, Charlie Ewels (c), Mike Williams, Sam Underhill, Zach Mercer
Replacements (16 – 23) Jack Walker, Lewis Boyce, Christian Judge, Elliott Stooke, Josh Bayliss, Chris Cook, Max Wright, Gabe Hamer-Webb
Ulster (15 – 9) Will Addison; Robert Lyttle, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, John Cooney
(1 – 8) Jack McGrath, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Iain Henderson (c), Sam Carter, Matthew Rea, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee
Replacements (16 – 23) Adam McBurney, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Sean Reidy, David Shanahan, Angus Curtis, Louis Ludik