Three-Try Ulster Lose Out To Kolbe-Inspired Toulouse

Ulster’s winning run at home came to an end tonight as French giants Toulouse collected a bonus point in a 29-22 Heineken Champions Cup win at Kingspan Stadium.

As he did during September’s quarter-final triumph, winger Cheslin Kolbe was Ulster’s tormenter-in-chief with another crucial brace of tries in this pulsating Pool B opener.

Hooker Rob Herring returned from Ireland duty with a well-taken try double of his own, and fast-starting Ulster also produced a terrific team try, finished off by Ian Madigan.

However, the province’s 12-0 lead was erased by half-time and Toulouse were clinical from limited chances. Antoine Dupont and Rory Arnold also crossed the whitewash, while Thomas Ramos supplied nine points from the tee.

Giving his reaction afterwards, Ulster boss Dan McFarland said: “We gave up some soft tries on defence and probably didn’t take a couple of chances we could have done.

“But we also played some really nice stuff and worked really hard. We had them under pressure for a lot of the game but key moments are absolutely pivotal.

“You can also say that when we were 12-0 up and gave away a soft try from a penalty ball on the floor and they ran it in from 60 metres out, that was a pretty pivotal moment. We had pinned them down in their half at that stage.”

It was a nervy opening with the wet ball causing problems for both sides, leading to a prolonged spell of scrummaging inside the first 10 minutes.

McFarland’s men were first on the board in the 13th minute with a trademark Herring try, rumbling over from a barnstorming maul which included Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey. John Cooney converted to make it a seven-pointer.

Just three minutes later, a beautiful backs move, which involved Cooney and Madigan going on the wraparound, dispatched Matt Faddes down the right wing and he passed back inside for James Hume who sent Madigan squeezing over in the corner.

Cooney’s difficult conversion missed the target, and Toulouse, who were beaten semi-finalists last season, turned to a familiar diminutive figure to get them off the mark.

South African star Kolbe swept through from a slick chip-and-chase effort, getting the ball down despite Madigan’s last-ditch tackle. Ramos converted to close the gap to 12-7.

Although they were missing some important personnel like regular captain Iain Henderson, Billy Burns and Jordi Murphy, Ulster looked set to take a deserved lead into half-time until another piece of individual brilliance.

France scrum half Dupont tidied up scrappy possession at the back of a scrum to dart 45 metres straight to the try-line, evading Madigan’s tackle and also dummying past Michael Lowry to dive over to the right of the posts.

Out-half Ramos’ conversion made it 14-12 at the break, but that was cancelled out by the surefooted Cooney, just three minutes into the second half.

Cooney could have given the hosts a four-point cushion, but he nudged a much tougher penalty effort wide after some excellent work at the breakdown by new Ireland cap Eric O’Sullivan.

Unfortunately, Ulster suffered further disruption to their pack when the talismanic Marcell Coetzee and skipper Sam Carter had to go off. There were Champions Cup debuts for Greg Jones and David O’Connor.

With 52 minutes on the clock and Ulster leaking a scrum penalty, Toulouse lock Arnold forced his way over after a good maul set-up from his fellow forwards. Ramos was accurate with the conversion again, making it 21-15.

Ulster turned to their own maul for further reward approaching the hour mark, with the wily Herring peeling off a drive to sneak over. Cooney’s conversion edged them back in front.

As the game continued to ebb and flow, Toulouse got on the front foot with Romain Ntamack playing a pivotal role with an accurate cross-field kick and, then, a try-scoring pass.

Kolbe, the Heineken star-of-the-match, succeeded in stepping inside Stockdale, on the right wing, and Matthew Rea and Lowry could not get across to stop the lightning-quick winger from scoring.

Ramos missed the conversion but with Ugo Mola’s charges beginning to turn the screw, a thumping long-range penalty from Toulouse’s number 10 gave them some rare breathing space.

Now 29-22 down and with just three minutes left, Ulster still had a levelling try to aim for, which would have netted them three valuable pool points.

Stockdale did cause some trouble for the Toulouse rearguard, leading to a late Maxime Medard yellow card, but despite two close-in lineouts, that equalising score eluded the Ulstermen.