Top 14 leaders Stade Francais claimed their first win in five visits to Ravenhill as Ulster suffered a 26-10 defeat in their opening match of this season’s Heineken Cup.
When you play in an all-pink kit, you have to have the skills to back it up and Stade Francais certainly did in Belfast, grabbing a full house of points for their eighth win of the season.
Stade are in rude health under coach Ewen McKenzie, leading the French Championship with seven straight wins, and Ulster did well to stay in touch at times.
But there was only one team in this match from the moment Juan-Martin Hernandez slotted a drop goal in the opening minute.
It was a display of controlled aggression punctuated by two tries – the first by Guillaume Bousses after 23 minutes, and the second eight minutes after the break by Dimitri Szarzewski – that kept Ulster at bay.
It was not until the 73rd minute that Paddy Wallace crossed for the home side, but by then the issue was sealed.
After Hernandez had opened the scoring, full-back Lionel Beauxis swept home a close range penalty on 14 minutes before Stade extended their lead with the first try.
Poor handling from the hosts gifted the opportunity for centre Bousses to cross.
Beauxis converted and then showed his array of skills with a 30-metre drop goal to hand Stade a commanding 16-0 buffer.
Ulster out-half Niall O’Connor slotted a penalty on 48 minutes but France hooker Szarzewski then crashed over from close range in the left corner.
Beauxis converted before Hernandez added another fine drop-goal in the 62nd minute from distance.
Ulster continued to battle and their efforts were finally rewarded with a late consolation try when Wallace ran on to O’Connor’s kick through.
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