LAST UPDATE | 13 Jan
Ulster 24
Toulouse 48
TOULOUSE HAVE THE look of a team that could well be impossible to stop on the evidence of this heady evening in the Champions Cup.
The first half had all the look of a catastrophe for Ulster.
Two early Billy Burns kicks skewed off his boot and on eight minutes, Dave Ewers took a knock to the head and had to be replaced by Matty Rea.
In the pack stakes, Toulouse weren’t coming over to be bullied and once they established it was an evening for the hard men, they could indulge themselves.
The first try arrived on ten minutes, fly-half Thomas Ramos flighting a beautiful pass on the diagonal for Matthis Lebel to collect and go over in the corner. The conversion was a mere three yards off the touchline but Ramos jammed it mid-centre of the posts anyway.
Ulster’s response came in short order, a converted penalty by John Cooney in front of the posts. In open play though, he committed a couple of poor clearances that had the effect of piling on the pressure for the home side.
Sean Reffell was slow to get on the right side of play and a penalty was ordered by referee Matthew Carley, slotted over by Ramos.
While Toulouse were bouncing, Ulster’s support were claiming pyrrhic victories, shouting long and lusty on a couple of occasions when they could drag opponents over the touchline, but it was merely cosmetic as they rarely threatened the try line.
As the half hour approached and inspiration flagging, Cooney even attempted a drop kick while travelling at serious speed. It barely got off the ground and ended up a daisy cutter.
Two minutes later Toulouse were in receipt of a penalty that Ramos slotted to the corner and after they won the lineout, assembled a maul that led to hooker Peato Mauvaka flopping over for a try, Ramos failing this time with the conversion.
A mix up in defence and a clearance blocked down had Michael Lowry scrambling to kill the ball behind his own try line. From the kick, Toulouse were set and put together a gorgeously straightforward passing sequence from Alexandre Roumat to Mauvaka and then onto Antoine Dupont to go over, Ramos tapping over a straightforward conversion.
Ulster were in serious need of a try before half time and launched into an extended series of battering ram excursions, Iain Henderson banging his way past the first tackle repeatedly.
With Toulouse tiring, Cooney was interfered with at the base of the scrum. The penalty scrum was worked and Tom Stewart lunged over for their first try a minute over the allotted time, and Cooney bringing Ulster’s score up to 10-22 to the French outfit.
Aspirations that this might prompt a fast start in the second half were disabused by Toulouse inflicting the first wound five minutes in.
A scrappy bit of play by them around the middle for sure, but a yawning gap opened up for Blair Kinghorn to elegantly eat up the yards and he found a willing Dupont there on his shoulder as willing support to collect and go over. Ramos did the necessary.
The sell-out crowd, so boisterous pre-game and in the early stages, were realising they were watching a serious team in Toulouse giving full vent to their abilities with further tries ran in with Mauvaka helping himself to a second on 53 minutes, and another from Anthony Jelonch just three minutes later.
By the time Ulster began running in tries, the game was away from them. Will Addison went over for one all the same just past the hour mark and Nick Timoney added his customary try six minutes later. Both were converted by Cooney’s replacement, Nathan Doak.
But the evening was all about Toulouse. The home support clapped the naming of Dupont as the Man of the Match, and just for the sheer look of it, the reds pushed through for Emmanuel Meafou to grab a try with the play going several seconds over 80 minutes, full-back Blair Kinghorn adding the conversion.
Ulster scorers:
Tries: Tom Stewart (41), Will Addison (61), Nick Timoney (68)
Conversions: John Cooney (41), Nathan Doak (62, 68)
Penalties: Cooney (12)
Toulouse scorers:
Tries: Matthis Lebel (9), Peato Mauvaka (30, 52), Antoine Dupont (34, 44), Alexandre Roumat (56), Emmanuel Meafou (80)
Conversions: Thomas Ramos (10, 36, 48, 57), Blair Kinghorn (80)
Penalties: Ramos (18)
ULSTER: Michael Lowry; Rob Baloucoune; James Hume, Stuart McCloskey; Jacob Stockdale (Will Addison, 59m); Billy Burns, John Cooney (Nathan Doak, 54m); Steven Kitshoff (Andy Warwick, 65m), Tom Stewart (John Andrew, 54), Tom O’Toole (Marty Moore, 54m), Kieran Treadwell, Iain Henderson (capt), Dave Ewers (Matty Rea, 8), Sean Reffell (Alan O’Connor, 42), Nick Timoney.
TOULOUSE: Blair Kinghorn; Juan Cruz Mallia, Dimitri Delibes, Pita Ahki (Santiago Chocobares, 56m), Matthis Lebel; Thomas Ramos (Setareki Bituniyata, 58m), Antoine Dupont (Paul Graou, 69m); Cyril Bailie (David Ainu’u, 52m), Peato Mauvaka (Julien Marchand, 54m), Dorian Aldegheri (Nepo Laulala, HT), Richie Arnold, Emmanuel Meafou, Francois Cros, Alexandre Roumat (Joshua Brennan, 58m), Anthony Jelonch (Jack Willis, 54m)
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
