14-man Bath beaten by Ulster
A red card for Bath lock Danny Grewcock cost the English side dearly on Saturday night – with Steve Meehan’s men struggling to stay with Ulster in their Heineken Cup encounter at the Recreation Ground, going down 28-10 in the end.
A tight first half ended with the visitors just 9-7 ahead but, crucially, with a one man advantage as well. Ulster No.10 Niall O’Connor got the ball rolling for the visitors with two penalties but it was Bath big wing Matt Banahan who got the games first try – dotting down after 21 minutes.
A reckless stamp from England second row Grewcock then resulting in him seeing red after just 33 minutes – a moment which, unsurprisingly, swung the momentum of the match swung the way of the home quarter-final chasing Ulster side.
A third penalty for O’Connor gave Ulster the lead at the break but it was Andrew Trimble’s try three minutes into the second half which really got the game going for Brian McLaughlin’s men.
Ireland centre Darren Cave got Ulster’s second try on 49 minutes, taking the score to 21-7 before, just five minutes later, Little reduced the gap down to 11 points with a successful penalty.
Ulster, desperate to win a bonus point, were searching for tries but being kept at bay by the determined 14 men of Bath.
Eventually, with two minutes left on the clock, Wallace scored try number three.
Time though was not on their side. The match finished 28-10 and the visitors on 17 Pool Five points.
The Scorers
For Bath
Try: Banahan
Pen: Little
Cons: Little
For Ulster
Tries: Trimble, Cave, Wallace
Pen: Connor 3
Cons: Connor 2
The teams:
Bath: 15 Joe Maddock, 14 Michael Stephenson, 13 Matt Carraro, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Nicky Little, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Luke Watson, 7 Jules Salvi, 6 Andrew Beattie, 5 Stuart Hooper, 4 Danny Grewcock, 3 David Wilson, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 David Barnes, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Peter Short, 20 Jonny Fa’amatuainu, 21 Scott Bemand, 22 Ryan Davis, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Ulster: 15 Jamie Smith, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Niall O’Connor, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Chris Henry (captain), 7 David Pollock, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Ed O’Donoghue, 4 Dan Tuohy, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Ryan Caldwell, 20 TJ Anderson, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Timoci Nagusa.
Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)
Assistant referees: Patrick Pechambert (France), Jerome Lamirand (France)
TMO: Daniel Gillet (France)
