Stockdale And Piutau Shine As Ulster See Off Wasps

Iain Henderson’s maiden captaincy ended in triumph tonight at Kingspan Stadium as a two-try sucker-punch from Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey knocked Wasps out cold in the first round of the Champions Cup.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: ULSTER 19 WASPS 9

The 54th and 56th-minute tries illuminated what was an uninspired encounter up to that point, setting up a grandstand final quarter where some nerveless kicking from Christian Lealiifano denied the visitors the consolation of a losing bonus point.

Three personnel changes from the team that defeated Connacht last week in the GUINNESS PRO14 brought in Louis Ludik on the right wing and Robbie Diack and Sean Reidy both returned to the back row.

Elsewhere in the Ulster line-up, Charles Piutau faced his former club at full-back, with Luke Marshall and Stuart McCloskey in the centre and the in-form Stockdale – the scorer of the match-winning try against Connacht – on the left wing.

Half-backs Lealiifano and John Cooney made their European debuts for the province, as did Jean Deysel at number 8. The front five, meanwhile, lined up with Kyle McCall and Wiehahn Herbst either side of hooker Rob Herring, with Kieran Treadwell and skipper Henderson in the second row.

Ulster saw plenty of ball in the first half but struggled to find real fluency and, disappointingly for the team with the highest lineout success rate in the 2016/17 tournament, they lost three of their own throws during the first 40 minutes.

Elliot Daly got proceedings underway with a third-minute penalty goal from just inside the Ulster half, a kick which Cooney attempted to emulate five minutes later from a similar distance, only to drag his effort to the right of the posts.

But when Stockdale ripped through the centre of the Wasps defence moments later and the Englishmen infringed again, the hosts’ Ireland-capped scrum half took advantage with the simplest of kicks to restore parity.

Wasps began dropping like flies as first Tom Cruse and then former Leinster centre Brendan Macken were replaced in quick succession by Ashley Johnson and Rob Miller respectively, and as both sides contrived to cheaply surrender possession, real try-scoring opportunities were in scant supply.

Cooney did well to chase and touch down a Wasps grubber as the visitors made a rare break down the left flank just before the half hour mark, and Ulster showed their defensive mettle as they heartily resisted the subsequent five-metre scrum then rolling maul. Wasps eventually settled for a Jimmy Gopperth penalty with the last kick of the half, giving themselves a 6-3 lead at the break.

Yet another lost Ulster lineout – this time on their own 22 – drew an infringement from McCloskey and gifted Gopperth another three points, some seven minutes after the restart. However, the tide then turned.

Quick hands from Marshall soon got Ulster moving in the right direction, and a close range penalty to touch brought them the best opportunity of the game to date, although Lealiifano was adjudged to have grounded just short of the line by TMO Jon Mason.

There was no doubt about Stockdale’s touchdown two minutes later, however, as Piutau’s diagonal burst demolished the Wasps rearguard from a strong Ulster maul and he fed the 21-year-old winger for a fine finish in the left corner.

The two combined again virtually from the restart as the ball moved from 15 to 11, Stockdale doing well to loop a high pass to McCloskey just before he was dragged out of play, and the centre applying the finishing touch under pressure.

Lealiifano gave Ulster some breathing space on 69 minutes with a penalty for 16-9, Cooney having made way for Paul Marshall. Seven points behind, Wasps’ cause was hurt further when winger Josh Bassett saw yellow for a high tackle on Ludik in the 74th minute. Lealiifano, the calmest man on a nervy night at Kingspan Stadium, slotted home the difficult kick to give his side clear daylight.

Round 2 sees Ulster travel to French side La Rochelle for an intriguing encounter on Sunday week (October 22) at Stade Marcel-Deflandre. Reflecting on Ulster’s European opener in Belfast, director of rugby Les Kiss admitted: “It was massive for us (to get the win). Though we didn’t play exceptionally well, we showed toughness and were able to move the momentum of the game through smarter decisions in the second half.

“Charles and Jacob are linking well. But the second half was all about us getting the pressure up after we let them off the hook a few times in the first half. In the second half we made them tackle a lot more.

“If we can make them tackle and shorten the line against Charles and Jacob and co on the edges, you can expose the space and they did it well enough. It was a game we had to tough out and we certainly challenged our attitude and character.”