Ulster slumped to their fourth Champions Cup defeat of the season, a result which consigns them to the bottom of Pool 5, as visitors Bordeaux Bègles made the most of their scoring opportunities to win 26-22 at Kingspan Stadium.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: ULSTER 22 BORDEAUX-BEGLES 26
Despite outscoring the French side by three tries to two and securing a losing bonus point, Ulster’s performance was full of errors and their late botching of a maul opportunity in their opponents’ 22 summed up their recent form.
Les Kiss’ men have now lost nine of their last 13 matches, and their meek exit from Europe leaves them to concentrate on their must-win upcoming games against Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors in the GUINNESS PRO12 where they have ground to make up on the top four.
First half tries from captain Andrew Trimble and Franco van der Merwe were added to by Darren Cave in the second, while Paddy Jackson kicked two conversions and a penalty.
Ireland international Ian Madigan led the way for Bordeaux – who were 20-15 up at the break – by kicking two conversions and two penalties. Kiwi replacement Simon Hickey closed the game out with two late penalties to seal a home-and-away double for his team against Ulster.
Impressive scrum half Yann Lesgourgues and back rower Marco Tauleigne scored Bordeaux’s tries in the first half. The visitors opened with a first minute penalty from Madigan after his opposite Jackson failed to roll away from a tackle.
Having dominated the opening exchanges, Raphael Ibanez’s charges had a try on 11 minutes when the lively Lesgourgues sacked Dave Shanahan, who suffered from a couple of early mistakes, at the back of an Ulster scrum and burst through for a converted score from close range.
The hosts then struck back and, after Jackson put a penalty in the corner, the out-half was on hand to supply Trimble with the scoring pass to dot down in the left corner. It was a well-worked try and just the confidence boost that the men in white needed.
However, Bordeaux responded by sending the ball up into Ulster territory and from a home scrum, their forwards showed immense power to shunt Ulster back over the whitewash with number 8 Tauleigne being awarded a 22nd minute try via TMO Geoff Warren. Madigan converted and Bordeaux led 17-5.
Again, Ulster responded and after English veteran Tom Palmer was penalised for a dangerous tackle, Jackson hit the corner and the province’s maul help create the momentum for second row van der Merwe to smash over out wide on the left flank.
This time Jackson landed the conversion to reduce the deficit to 17-12 but Madigan struck back shortly afterwards with a well-struck long range penalty.
The first half ended with Jackson just held up from his own nippy midfield break off a Cave offload – but illegally so by Bordeaux’s teenage full-back Geoffrey Cros. He was promptly yellow carded and Jackson was successful with his penalty effort to make it a five-point game at the turnaround.
With Iain Henderson putting himself about in the forward exchanges, Ulster had enough possession and pressure in the Bordeaux 22 to force an early second half try during Cros’ continued absence. A lack of clinical edge was obvious when Madigan came to the visitors’ rescue with a textbook cover tackle to bring down Tommy Bowe just metres from his own line.
Jackson let Bordeaux off the hook with a poor penalty miss in the 53rd minute, before the Ulster attack finally clicked nearing the hour mark. Aided by replacement Paul Marshall’s quick deliveries, Stuart McCloskey punched a hole with a probing run in the 22 and his centre partner Cave did really well to hold off two defenders and place the ball against the foot of the right hand post. TMO Warren confirmed the try which Jackson converted for a 22-20 Ulster lead.
They should have kicked on from there, willed on by the home crowd, but errors crept into Ulster’s game again and they allowed Bordeaux, who defended stoutly, to build some pressure downfield.
A high tackle by McCloskey on Jean-Baptiste Dubie ended in a penalty which Hickey converted for a 23-22 scoreline, and the same player added a clinching second place-kick with just under six minutes remaining.
A couple of penalties did invite Ulster forward in the dying embers of the match, Jackson twice kicking towards the left corner to set up maul chances. The second one unfortunately saw Henderson fumble possession and then Bordeaux succeeded in forcing a turnover in front of their posts to confirm their narrow but deserved victory.
Giving his reaction afterwards, Ulster director of rugby Kiss said: “I feel that weight (of pressure), for sure. But it is what my job is. It is tough to be in that space. It is. Some of us have been there once or twice, some a few more times, but there is a lot of good effort going in.
“We are not complete. We have made a lot of errors in the game but we are not that far away. But when you are in that space, you have got to look yourself in the mirror and you have got to take ownership and responsibility and make sure you stay strong about where you are going and what you are doing together.”
The former Ireland defence coach added: “It is important we recognise the responsibility and we have to get ourselves out of this situation. That is what we are going to work hard on. I feel it for all the guys. I am the type of coach that does, and I am connected in an emotional way with the team.
“We just have to trust we are doing the right things. We challenge ourselves every week since the Connacht game (last month) – we have not won since then – to work on the solutions we think are right.
“The truth is, if we can be a little bit more clinical at times, lower the error rate, those types of things, we may just stretch that scoreline to mitigate for some of the things that do not happen for us. But, in the end, it has not been, so we just have to suck it up and ensure that we work hard on what we have to work hard on, stick together and get the job done.”
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