Another thrilling European contest at Kingspan Stadium saw Ulster put an end to Racing 92’s 100% Champions Cup record this sseason and give themselves a fantastic chance of progression to the quarter-final stage.
Two tries from Jacob Stockdale on the occasion of his 50th Ulster cap and one from European debutant Robert Baloucoune made the win possible, although it was a nail-biting one in the end as the hosts needed a late Will Addison penalty to get over the finish line.
Racing, who crossed the whitewash four times, left Belfast with two bonus points for their efforts and still sit top of Pool 4 with 21 points. Second-placed Ulster are on 18 points ahead of of their final round showdown with Leicester Tigers at Welford Road next Saturday.
Head coach Dan McFarland named a strong team, with only three changes to the side that claimed back-to-back victories over the Scarlets last month. The 21-year-old Balacoune occupied the space left by Henry Speight, who has returned to the Brumbies, David Shanahan was a late replacement for John Cooney who failed a pre-match fitness test, and lock Alan O’Connor took over from the injured Iain Henderson.
An early Billy Burns penalty dispatched through the posts from 25 metres out, Ulster set out their stall with two good turnovers in the first five minutes, before a searching kick from the out-half had the Racing defence scrambling back and they eventually forced a lineout.
Quick hands from Ulster spread play from left to right, and young Ireland Sevens international Baloucoune was soon toasting his European bow with a try-scoring dive in at the corner, although Burns’ conversion fell well short of the target at 8-0.
Not to be outdone by his marginally younger pretender, Stockdale supplied a try of his own in the 13th minute, the French side simply unable to live with the big winger’s speed as he countered off slick passes from Addison and Louis Ludik, just past halfway, and shrugged off Antoine Claassen’s tackle to maintain his try-per-round rate in Europe this season.
Racing hit back soon after, centre Virimi Vakatawa showing immense strength to brush off five tackles in his run-in from the 22 for a superb individual try. However, Scotland international Finn Russell proved just as unfortunate as Burns with his conversion attempt.
Entirely undeterred, Ulster came so close in the 24th minute when Addison used a penalty advantage to loop a kick towards the corner and ace predator Stockdale was only just beaten by the bounce. With Burns receiving treatment, Addison ably deputised to split the posts and make it 16-5.
The free-scoring rhythm of the game continued as Simon Zebo – playing his first game on Irish soil since leaving Munster in the summer – touched down in the corner a split second before his knee slid into touch. The bad day for goal-kicking continued, though, with another missed conversion from Russell.
Racing continued to ask questions of the Ulster defence until the half-time whistle, but hard work across the defensive line kept their raids at bay and saw the hosts off at the break 16-10 to the good.
Indiscipline from Racing at the start of the second period – in particular, a senseless offside from Maxime Machenaud – went unpunished due to a poor Ulster lineout, but that faded into insignificance when Stockdale took centre stage again with 47 minutes gone.
In another example of what is fast becoming his signature move, the Ireland star broke Oliver Klemenczak’s tackle on halfway, chipped the covering defender on the left wing and made his own luck as the bouncing ball evaded two Racing players and sat up nicely for the 22-year-old man-of-the-match to gather and take his impressive tournament tally to six tries.
Addison added the extras to put 13 points between the sides, but Racing’s attacking threat appeared to increase with each passing minute. A horrible knock-on from Leone Nakawara deprived them of a surefire try moments later, before they put their next chance away just before the hour, Brice Dulin sliding over from a move generated by a lineout.
Racing helped themselves to a bonus point score five minutes later, a litany of missed tackles allowing replacement Klemenczak to finish off to the right of the posts. With Teddy Iribaren converting, all of sudden Ulster’s lead was down to the bare minimum – 23-22.
With an entirely new front row for the last 15 minutes, Ulster continued to soak up the pressure, eventually catching a break in the 75th minute when Racing infringed on the home 22 and Addison, who had a fine game, was able to kick to touch for some much-needed respite.
The resulting lineout was lost, however, and only a forward final pass from Vakatawa prevented try number five for the star-studded Top 14 outfit. Another penalty was won by Ulster, who had brought on 20-year-old Academy talent Michael Lowry at out-half, and this time the set piece ran like clockwork, to such an extent that a final Racing infringement allowed Addison to slot a penalty with only seconds remaining.
There was still just enough time for a restart, which Addison did well to collect and gleefully fire into touch to ensure the province claimed another French scalp in front of the home fans who produced another brilliantly raucous atmosphere.
Giving his reaction afterwards, McFarland said: “In the context of who we were playing against and the excitement of the rugby and some of the execution of the plays, it’s certainly up there (as a special win). When you add into that the atmosphere in the stadium then wow, it was awesome.
“Jacob’s got a bit of stardust, hasn’t he? There are a lot of tired bodies in our changing room and when you spend a lot of the second half chasing after guys like Leone Nakarawa and his offloads, and Virimi Vakatawa, that’s hard work.
“We’ve put things back in our control. That’s how we’re looking at it. Forgetting the table, what a great place (Welford Road is) to try and go and win in a tight situation in European rugby. Leicester are playing some nice rugby now and we’ll look forward to that. We’re going there to win. That’s what it’s about.”
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