Ulster grabbed their first ever victory on the banks of the Garonne this afternoon at Stade Ernest Wallon, following up last weekend’s historic 38-0 defeat of Toulouse with a hard-fought and fully-deserved 25-23 away win.
Standout performances from half-backs Paddy Jackson and Ruan Pienaar set the tone, with tries from Pienaar, Andrew Trimble and Luke Marshall putting paid to any threat of a backlash from the Rouge et Noir after last week’s humiliation in Belfast.
Ulster now sit second in Pool 1 on nine points after three games played, with home and away ties against struggling Oyonnax to come either side of their showdown with table toppers Saracens in mid-January.
Les Kiss made only two changes to his starting line-up, both in the back row where Sean Reidy replaced Chris Henry for his first ever European Champions Cup outing, and Roger Wilson came in for Nick Williams at number 8.
Kiss’ mimimal personnel adjustments were in stark contrast to those of his opposite number Ugo Mola, who retained only six of his starters from the demolition at Kingspan Stadium.
Ulster’s unchanged back-line featured Louis Ludik at full-back, Trimble and Craig Gilroy on the wings, Marshall and Stuart McCloskey in the centre, and the half-back tandem of Jackson and Pienaar.
Up front, Kyle McCall and Wiehahn Herbst propped either side of captain Rory Best, with Alan O’Connor and Franco van der Merwe continuing their partnership in the second row, and Robbie Diack packing down alongside Reidy and Wilson.
Jackson’s penalty opened the Ulster account in the second minute, and when Toulouse went off their feet just shy of halfway three minutes later, long range expert Pienaar tried his luck from 58 metres, his kick dragging well wide.
Gilroy made an early exit with suspected concussion after a shuddering tackle from his direct wing opponent Kunatani Kunabuli. He was replaced by Rory Scholes and as Toulouse began to put together some of the progressive rugby on which their reputation is built, only some aggressive mauling from Diack, who had an excellent game, held their 19th minute drive at bay.
A scrum collapse from prop Cyril Baille gave Jackson another pop at the posts from 40 metres just before the half hour, and although his kick struck the right hand post and rebounded to safety, patient work from the Ulster forwards in the very next attack made enough space for Pienaar to hop over a mass of bodies in front of the posts for an opportunist 31st-minute try.
Jackson converted, but the Toulouse reaction was instantaneous, with a promising attack only broken up by a deliberate knock-on from Jackson in the Ulster 22 which saw the out-half firstly pummelled by an irate Florian Fritz, and then correctly sin-binned by referee JP Doyle for the infraction.
Sébastien Bézy knocked over the three points for a 10-3 scoreline, and Ulster did well to resist the waves of attacks until the clock moved into red for half-time.
The province even managed to break away downfield in the last seconds as Trimble seized possession and combined with Ludik and man-of-the-match Pienaar to put in Scholes for an electric try in the left corner. However, the score was ruled out for a forward pass in the build-up.
Bézy added another penalty on 42 minutes just before Jackson made his return to the pitch, but once back to their full complement Ulster wasted no time in taking back control.
McCloskey, a constant threat in midfield, was the instigator with a trademark incisive run into the 22 before the ball was swiftly moved out to the right where van der Merwe passed neaty for Trimble to brilliantly nip in at the corner just in time to avoid the lunges of Thierry Dusautoir and Jean-Marc Doussain.
Jackson’s difficult conversion veered to the right and wide in the wind. As the tempo cranked up a gear, Toulouse poured straight down the other end where three minutes of patient possession play from their pack eventually found centre Gael Fickou on the right for the try, converted by Bézy. Suddenly, the margin was down to 15-13.
The scrum half kicked Toulouse into the lead for the first and only time on 55 minutes after replacement prop Andrew Warwick had been pulled up for an illegal tackle, but another zippy break – this time led by Jackson – carved out the penalty to restore the Ulster advantage on the hour mark.
As the clock reached 70 minutes, two successive penalties at scrum time put Ulster under unwelcome pressure, but indiscipline from the French in their turn gifted the visitors a lineout on the 22.
Although possession was briefly relinquished, a sublime turnover from Jackson set up the move for Marshall to dart over for the killer try, as the Ireland centre took a terrific inside pass from lock O’Connor to go over by the posts. Jackson’s conversion provided some more welcome cushion at 25-16.
Toulouse’s replacement number 8 Louis Picamoles grabbed a last-minute try, converted by Doussain to bring his side to within two points, but Ulster forced the final whistle soon after the restart by means of a choke tackle.
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