ULSTER 26 RACING 92 22

A European thriller this afternoon at the Kingspan Stadium saw Ulster put an end to Racing 92’s 100% Champions Cup record and give themselves a fantastic chance of progression to the quarter-final stage. Two tries from Jacob Stockdale on the occasion of his 50^th cap and one from Robert Baloucoune made the win possible, although Racing, who crossed the whitewash four times, leave Belfast with two bonus points for their efforts and still sit atop Pool Four with 21 points to Ulster’s 18 in advance of the province’s final day showdown with Leicester Tigers next Saturday. Head coach Dan McFarland named a strong side, with only three changes from the XV which won back-to-back ties against the Scarlets in December – Balacoune making his European debut on the wing in the space left by Henry Speight, returned to his home club the Brumbies, David Shanahan a late replacement for John Cooney who failed a pre-match fitness test, and lock Alan O’Connor, with Iain Henderson sidelined through injury. Otherwise the Ulster backline comprised full-back Louis Ludik, wing Stockdale, centres Will Addison and Stuart McCloskey, and out-half Billy Burns. Up front Eric O’Sullivan and Marty Moore started at prop either side of skipper Rory Best, with Kieran Treadwell partnering O’Connor in the second row, and a back row of flankers Sean Reidy and Jordi Murphy, and Number Eight Marcell Coetzee. An early Burns penalty dispatched from 25 metres, Ulster set out their stall with two good turnovers in the first five minutes, before a searching kick from the out-half had the Racing defence scrambling back and eventually forced the lineout. Quick hands from Ulster spread play from left to right, and Baloucoune was soon toasting his European bow with a dive to the corner – although Burns’s conversion fell well short. Not to be outdone by his marginally younger pretender, Stockdale supplied a try of his own on 14 minutes, the French simply unable to live with the wingman’s speed as he countered off Ludik’s pass just past half-way and outpaced his chasers to keep his try-every-game European record alive. Racing hit back soon, centre Virimi Vakatawa showing immense strength to brush off five tackles in his run-in from the ‘22’ for a superb individual try – although Finn Russell proved just as unfortunate as Burns with his conversion attempt. Entirely undeterred, Ulster came so close on 25 minutes when, with a penalty coming, Addison looped a kick to the corner and Stockdale was only just beaten by the bounce. With Burns receiving treatment, Addison ably deputised to split the posts. The free-scoring rhythm of the game continued, however, Simon Zebo touching down in the corner a split second before his knee slid into touch, but the bad day for goal kicking continued with another missed conversion from Russell. Racing continued to ask questions of the Ulster defence until the half-time whistle – but hard work across the line kept their raids at bay and saw the hosts off at the break six points to the good. Half-Time Score Ulster 16 Racing 92 10 Indiscipline from Racing at the start of the second period – in particular a senseless offside from Maxime Machenaud – went unpunished due to a poor Ulster lineout, but that faded into insignificance when Stockdale took control on 48 minutes. In another example of what is fast becoming his signature move, the winger broke the tackle on half-way, chipped the defender and collected on the other side for the score, converted by Addison. A horrible knock-on from Leone Nakawara deprived Racing of what looked a surefire try moments later, but they were less wasteful with their next chance just before the hour, Brice Dulin sliding over from a move generated by a lineout. Racing helped themselves to their fourth try five minutes later, a litany of missed tackles allowing replacement Teddy Iribaren in at the corner, and Dulin’s conversion bringing the visitors within a point on the scoreboard. With an entirely new front row for the last 15 minutes, Ulster continued to soak up the pressure, eventually catching a break on 75 minutes when Racing infringed on the home ‘22’ and Addison was able to kick to touch for some respite. The resulting lineout was lost, however, and only a forward final pass prevented try number five. Another penalty came soon, however, and this time the set-piece ran like clockwork, to such an extent that a final Racing infringement allowed Addison to slot a penalty with seconds remaining. There was still time for a restart – which Ulster took well and did not hesitate to kick straight to touch to bring the thriller to an end. Full-Time Score Ulster 26 Racing 92 22 Ulster (15 – 9) Louis Ludik; Robert Baloucoune, Will Addison, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, David Shanahan (1 – 8) Eric O’Sullivan, Rory Best (c), Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor, Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee Replacements (16 – 23) Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Ross Kane, Ian Nagle, Nick Timoney, Jonny Stewart, Michael Lowry, Darren Cave Racing 92 (15 – 9) Brice Dulin; Simon Zebo, Virimi Vakatawa, Henry Chavancy, Juan Imhoff; Finn Russell, Maxime Machenaud (1 – 8) Guram Gogichashvili, Dimitri Szarzewski (c), Ben Tameifuna, Bernard Le Roux, Leone Nakarawa, Wenceslas Lauret, Baptiste Chouzenoux, Antonie Claassen Replacements (16 – 23) Teddy Baubigny, Vasil Kakovin, Georges-Henri Colombe, Boris Palu, Fabien Sanconnie, Teddy Iribaren, Olivier Klemenczak, Ben Volavola