Injury-Hit Ulster Are Defiant In Defeat

Reigning champions Toulon confirmed Ulster’s European exit this afternoon with an eight-try masterclass of attacking rugby, but the province left the Stade Félix Mayol with their heads held high after a battling display and four tries of their own.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: TOULON 60 ULSTER 22

Scores from Paddy Jackson, Mike McComish (2) and Jared Payne secured a bonus point for the visitors, who were forced to reshuffle their back-line several times due to injuries to Louis Ludik, Jackson and Stuart Olding – the first two of which look likely to lead to lengthy lay-offs.

Toulon are the first side to qualify for the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup on the back of today’s 60-22 victory, while Ulster – bottom of Pool 3 on seven points – must defeat Leicester Tigers next Saturday to have a chance of finishing above the Scarlets in the final standings.

Victorious in all 13 of their previous home games in Europe’s premier competition, Toulon needed no more than three minutes to register their first try, Nicolas Sanchez exploiting a gap in the Ulster defence from Maxime Mermoz’s pass to dart through unopposed from the 22.

Leigh Halfpenny’s conversion dispatched, a penalty soon followed to extend the lead to 10 points before a refocused Ulster put together some champagne rugby of their own, with Jackson instrumental both at the source and the mouth.

The Ireland out-half latched on to a smart backwards flick from Ruan Pienaar just outside the 22, beat his man and quickly supplied Darren Cave to keep the move alive. Sharp recycling followed from the forwards, until McComish’s looped pass found Jackson whose side-step evaded Bryan Habana’s tackle for the try.

Although Jackson’s conversion sailed wide – and Halfpenny soon topped up the Toulon tally with a penalty – Ulster showed no signs of discouragement and indeed a 20th minute catch-and-drive ended with the impressive McComish grounding amid a sea of bodies.

Incidents followed thick and fast, with Jackson’s second conversion attempt missing the target and Ludik sustaining a knock to the ribs from a brave sliding challenge for a 50-50 ball. He was replaced by Ian Humphreys from the bench.

With an improvised backline of Olding at full-back, Payne and Humphreys on the wings, and Cave and Michael Allen in the centre, Ulster continued to frustrate Toulon’s natural game until the half hour mark when, with Jackson receiving treatment on the field, Habana picked up from Mathieu Bastareaud on the left wing to sprint over for his second try against the province this season.

As Halfpenny converted, Jackson exited nursing an ominous-looking elbow injury, and with Paul Marshall entering the fray, Toulon soon capitalised on the disruption in their opponents’ ranks, Bastareaud resisiting Rob Herring’s valiant tap-tackle attempt to roll over the line. Halfpenny converted for a 27-10 half-time lead.

Ulster opened the second period with their tails up but soon fell victim to yet another injury, Olding this time taking a knock to the arm. He was replaced by Michael Heaney, Ulster’s third scrum half among the 15 players on the pitch.

Martin Castrogiovanni showed no sympathy for his beleaguered opponents on 48 minutes, as he picked up from Juan Smith off the lineout and took Roger Wilson’s tackle in his stride to crash over in the left corner.

Halfpenny maintained his 100% kicking record with the conversion, and as Toulon began to run away with the encounter, try number five came on 57 minutes courtesy of a sublimely fluent move finished off by the right corner flag by Steffon Armitage and converted once more by the Welshman.

The sixth try two minutes later was even more aesthetically pleasing, the Toulon forwards showing quick hands that most backs can only aspire to, and replacement flanker Mamuka Gorgodze touching down at the end of a series of dozen pinpoint passes. Halfpenny added another conversion, then a seventh after Armitage notched another try from a rolling maul.

Ulster salvaged some pride on 68 minutes, Payne grounding a neat try from Humphreys’ kick to the left corner after excellent ball-carrying and recycling from both McComish and Alan O’Connor.

Pienaar’s conversion attempt failed to trouble the posts, but the Ulster scoring was still not quite complete, Ballymena clubman McComish (pictured above) helping himself to his second try on the back of a rolling maul.

Pienaar converted but there was still time for a further addition to the scoreboard, with the heavily-involved Armitage brushing off Allen’s tackle to complete his hat-trick in the left corner.

Speaking afterwards, Ulster’s stand-in captain Roger Wilson said: “When you look at the scoreboard it’s very disappointing but I don’t think that reflects the effort we put in for 80 minutes. Not many teams will go to Toulon and score four tries but the big negative for us was the defence.

“We tried to get in their faces as much as possible and it worked for a while but when they get up some momentum and get their offload game working they are very difficult to stop. We spoke before the game about the fact that there was nothing to play for but we still wanted to go out and put our bodies on the line.

“The injuries in the first half were a big blow for us and we don’t seem to have had much luck with that recently. We will look ahead to Leicester Tigers next week and we want to finish off the pool on a positive note.”