Ulster do the Toulouse double
Tries from Ruan Pienaar, Andrew Trimble and Luke Marshall secured Ulster's third win on French soil. Gael Fickou and Louis Picamoles hit-back, but it was not enough to stop Ulster from claiming their second win in three Champions Cup outings.
Ulster got of to the perfect start as they searched for a repeat of last weekend's famous 38-0 thumping. Toulouse lock Gregory Lamboley offended at a ruck as the Irish province forced their way towards the Toulouse 22, and Paddy Jackson made no mistake with the penalty for a 3-0 lead after as many minutes.
Missed penalties from Ruan Pienaar and Jackson stopped Ulster from making the breeze at the backs count. But Pienaar struck seven minutes before half-time to give the visitors a 10-0 lead. Ulster turned up the tempo with some patient phase play, and after Weihahn Herbst was stopped just short, Pienaar spotted a gap to dot down, with Jackson converting.
But the Ireland playmaker put his side under pressure moments later when he deliberately knocked on and was shown yellow, allowing Sebastien Bezy to cut the gap to 10-3. Bezy landed another to cut the gap to four, before Trimble looked to have wrapped it up. Stuart McCloskey cut through the defensive line and got down to the five metre line, before the ball was worked to van der Merwe and then Trimble, who finished at the corner.
But the hurting hosts hit back through Gael Fickou on 50 minutes. Toulouse were camped on the Ulster line and finally worked it out to the France centre who waltzed over. And Bezy hit another penalty to hit the front for the first time.
But Ulster hit-back once again through the boot of Jackson on the hour mark to retake a two point lead. And the points were guaranteed in the 75th minute when Luke Marshall was found on the inside to crash over, before Louis Picamoles scored a consolation with the dying moments.
The scorers:
For Toulouse:
Tries: Fickou, Picamoles
Cons: Bézy, Doussain
Pens: Bézy 3
For Ulster:
Tries: Pienaar, Trimble, L Marshall
Con: Jackson
Pens: Jackson 2
Toulouse: 15 Alexis Palisson, 14 Kunatani Kunabuli, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Florian Fritz, 11 Timoci Matanavou, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Sébastien Bézy, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Yacouba Camara, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Gregory Lamboley, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Gert Muller, 19 Joe Tekori, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 David Mele, 22 Luke McAlister, 23 Clément Poitrenaud.
Ulster: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Sean Reidy, 6 Robbie Diack, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Alan O'Connor, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Kyle McCall.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Ricky Lutton, 19 Louis Stevenson, 20 Nick Williams, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Rory Scholes.
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistant Referees: Darren Gamage (England), Paul Burton (England)
TMO: David Grashoff (England)
