Ulster usurped erstwhile leaders La Rochelle at the top of the European Rugby Champions Cup Pool A table this afternoon, courtesy of a full-blooded performance at the Kingspan Stadium which sets up for a grandstand finish in next week's Round Six fixture at Wasps.
A strong Ulster defence limited the visitors – only one point off the lead in the French Top 14 – to a single try, while scores from Rory Best, Jacob Stockdale and Nick Timoney were indicative of a much more clinical attack from Les Kiss’s team.
While the Ulstermen failed to secure a four-try bonus point, and to deprive the visitors of a losing bonus to take back to France, the win edges the province one point ahead on 17. A bonus point win at the Ricoh Arena next Sunday would guarantee Ulster progress to the last eight as group winners; anything less than five points would leave qualification dependent on how the Rochelais fare against Harlequins, and indeed on other results also.
Five changes to the XV that started in last weekend’s heavy defeat to Leinster included three to the backline, where winger Craig Gilroy, centre Louis Ludik and scrum-half John Cooney all returned to starting berths in place of Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave and Jonny Stewart respectively.
Full-back Charles Piutau, centre Stuart McCloskey, wing Stockdale and out-half Christian Lealiifano, in his final Kingspan appearance before rejoining the Brumbies in Australia, completed the back seven.
Up front two switches brought in Alan O’Connor for Peter Browne at lock and Timoney for Jean Deysel at Number Eight, with a front row of Callum Black, skipper Best and Rodney Ah You, Iain Henderson teaming with O’Connor in the second row, and a flanker partnership of Matthew Rea and Sean Reidy.
There was little in the way of French flair about La Rochelle’s start to the game, their huge forwards trundling their way along the Ulster 10-metre line to little effect, and it came as no surprise when scrum-half Alexi Bales elected to go for the posts with a close-range penalty on nine minutes.
Lealiifano eschewed the posts with a kick of his own moments later, but his failure to find touch handed the initiative back to the Rochelais, who soon doubled their lead courtesy of another Bales kick.
The Ulster backs got into the game on the cusp of the second quarter, Gilroy in particular making some good ground before La Rochelle’s replacement back Paul Jordaan – recently on for Gabriel Lacroix – saw yellow for taking out Piutau in the air as the full-back chased a kick.
Ulster then burst into life, Cooney’s kick-and-chase putting the wind up the visitors before a dynamic rolling maul saw Best touch down just short of the half-hour.
Cooney’s conversion missed in the wind, but Ulster – with Cave now in the mix in place of Gilroy, the recipient of a bang to the head – continued to turn the screw, soon earning another close-range lineout.
This one, however, was fed straight to the backs, who spread play until the repositioned Ah You picked up and bulldozed to the five-metre line. As Ulster recycled Lealiifano’s pass wide missed the first two men, but was somehow scooped up by Stockdale, who swivelled out of a tackle to sneak in at the corner for an impressive individual try.
Half-Time Score Ulster 10 La Rochelle 6
The visitors stunned the Kingspan into silence within three minutes of the restart, Number Eight Victor Vito penetrating the Ulster rearguard a little too easily and supplying Bales for a simple run-in, which the scrum-half converted himself.
The stands didn’t stay quiet for long, however, as Cave latched onto a loose ball in the French ‘22’ and found Timoney for the try under the posts.
Cooney converted and shortly added a penalty to give his side a seven-point cushion on 50 minutes, which held intact well into the final quarter thanks to some dogged defending at successive close-range scrums.
The storm weathered, Ulster pushed on in search of the bonus point – and might have snatched it on 66 minutes but for an unfortunate knock-on from Henderson mere metres from the line.
An intelligent high kick from Cooney then put Botia Veivuke under pressure by his own corner flag, the flanker knocking on into touch. Although the Ulster possession from the lineout came to nothing, the clock had wound down sufficiently to ensure that, when the Rochelais eventually seized back custody of the ball, their next error – a knock-on in the maul – signalled the end of the encounter.
Full-Time Score Ulster 20 La Rochelle 13
Ulster (15 – 9) Charles Piutau; Craig Gilroy, Louis Ludik, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Christian Lealiifano, John Cooney
(1 – 8) Callum Black, Rory Best (c), Rodney Ah You, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson, Matthew Rea, Sean Reidy, Nick Timoney
Replacements (16 – 23) Rob Herring, Kyle McCall, Ross Kane, Kieran Treadwell, Chris Henry, David Shanahan, Johnny McPhillips, Darren Cave
La Rochelle (15 – 9) Kini Murimurivalu; Gabriel Lacroix, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Pierre Aguillon, Vincent Rattez; Jérémy Sinzelle, Alexi Bales
(1 – 8) Dany Priso, Pierre Bourgarit, Uini Antonio, Jason Eaton (c), Mathieu Tanguy, Botia Veivuke, Kevin Gourdon, Victor Vito
Replacements (16 – 23) Jean-Charles Orioli, Vincent Pelo, Mohamed Boughanmi, Gregory Lamboley, Afa Amosa, Tawera Kerr Barlow, Benjamin Nobles, Paul Jordaan
A strong Ulster defence limited the visitors – only one point off the lead in the French Top 14 – to a single try, while scores from Rory Best, Jacob Stockdale and Nick Timoney were indicative of a much more clinical attack from Les Kiss’s team.
While the Ulstermen failed to secure a four-try bonus point, and to deprive the visitors of a losing bonus to take back to France, the win edges the province one point ahead on 17. A bonus point win at the Ricoh Arena next Sunday would guarantee Ulster progress to the last eight as group winners; anything less than five points would leave qualification dependent on how the Rochelais fare against Harlequins, and indeed on other results also.
Five changes to the XV that started in last weekend’s heavy defeat to Leinster included three to the backline, where winger Craig Gilroy, centre Louis Ludik and scrum-half John Cooney all returned to starting berths in place of Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave and Jonny Stewart respectively.
Full-back Charles Piutau, centre Stuart McCloskey, wing Stockdale and out-half Christian Lealiifano, in his final Kingspan appearance before rejoining the Brumbies in Australia, completed the back seven.
Up front two switches brought in Alan O’Connor for Peter Browne at lock and Timoney for Jean Deysel at Number Eight, with a front row of Callum Black, skipper Best and Rodney Ah You, Iain Henderson teaming with O’Connor in the second row, and a flanker partnership of Matthew Rea and Sean Reidy.
There was little in the way of French flair about La Rochelle’s start to the game, their huge forwards trundling their way along the Ulster 10-metre line to little effect, and it came as no surprise when scrum-half Alexi Bales elected to go for the posts with a close-range penalty on nine minutes.
Lealiifano eschewed the posts with a kick of his own moments later, but his failure to find touch handed the initiative back to the Rochelais, who soon doubled their lead courtesy of another Bales kick.
The Ulster backs got into the game on the cusp of the second quarter, Gilroy in particular making some good ground before La Rochelle’s replacement back Paul Jordaan – recently on for Gabriel Lacroix – saw yellow for taking out Piutau in the air as the full-back chased a kick.
Ulster then burst into life, Cooney’s kick-and-chase putting the wind up the visitors before a dynamic rolling maul saw Best touch down just short of the half-hour.
Cooney’s conversion missed in the wind, but Ulster – with Cave now in the mix in place of Gilroy, the recipient of a bang to the head – continued to turn the screw, soon earning another close-range lineout.
This one, however, was fed straight to the backs, who spread play until the repositioned Ah You picked up and bulldozed to the five-metre line. As Ulster recycled Lealiifano’s pass wide missed the first two men, but was somehow scooped up by Stockdale, who swivelled out of a tackle to sneak in at the corner for an impressive individual try.
Half-Time Score Ulster 10 La Rochelle 6
The visitors stunned the Kingspan into silence within three minutes of the restart, Number Eight Victor Vito penetrating the Ulster rearguard a little too easily and supplying Bales for a simple run-in, which the scrum-half converted himself.
The stands didn’t stay quiet for long, however, as Cave latched onto a loose ball in the French ‘22’ and found Timoney for the try under the posts.
Cooney converted and shortly added a penalty to give his side a seven-point cushion on 50 minutes, which held intact well into the final quarter thanks to some dogged defending at successive close-range scrums.
The storm weathered, Ulster pushed on in search of the bonus point – and might have snatched it on 66 minutes but for an unfortunate knock-on from Henderson mere metres from the line.
An intelligent high kick from Cooney then put Botia Veivuke under pressure by his own corner flag, the flanker knocking on into touch. Although the Ulster possession from the lineout came to nothing, the clock had wound down sufficiently to ensure that, when the Rochelais eventually seized back custody of the ball, their next error – a knock-on in the maul – signalled the end of the encounter.
Full-Time Score Ulster 20 La Rochelle 13
Ulster (15 – 9) Charles Piutau; Craig Gilroy, Louis Ludik, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Christian Lealiifano, John Cooney
(1 – 8) Callum Black, Rory Best (c), Rodney Ah You, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson, Matthew Rea, Sean Reidy, Nick Timoney
Replacements (16 – 23) Rob Herring, Kyle McCall, Ross Kane, Kieran Treadwell, Chris Henry, David Shanahan, Johnny McPhillips, Darren Cave
La Rochelle (15 – 9) Kini Murimurivalu; Gabriel Lacroix, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Pierre Aguillon, Vincent Rattez; Jérémy Sinzelle, Alexi Bales
(1 – 8) Dany Priso, Pierre Bourgarit, Uini Antonio, Jason Eaton (c), Mathieu Tanguy, Botia Veivuke, Kevin Gourdon, Victor Vito
Replacements (16 – 23) Jean-Charles Orioli, Vincent Pelo, Mohamed Boughanmi, Gregory Lamboley, Afa Amosa, Tawera Kerr Barlow, Benjamin Nobles, Paul Jordaan