Ulster run Oyonnax ragged

There were eight tries in all for the Irish province as captain Rob Herring, Darren Cave, Rory Scholes, Sean Reidy, Craig Gilroy, Robbie Diack, Ian Humphreys and Jared Payne got over the line, with Humphreys and Paddy Jackson adding the eight conversions between them.

Oyonnax could only manage a penalty through Rory Clegg as their maiden campaign in top-tier European competition came to an end on a disappointing note.

The win moved Ulster into the quarterfinal places, but they now have to sit and wait while the remaining games in other pools to play out before they find out if this bonus-point success is enough.

From the off there was a real intent to take the game to their hosts and skipper Herring was soon nipping round the side of a ruck to open the scoring, with Jackson converting.

Clegg responded with a penalty but centre Cave was soon racing over the line after excellent work by Payne and Jackson in the build-up.

There were some very worrying signs for the visitors and those concerns only increased when more sharp work from Payne allowed replacement Scholes to ease over for a third try.

The bonus-point was already within sight and flank Reidy was the man to get the fourth try, profiting from a powerful Nick Williams carry to slide over.

It was one way traffic as Ulster looked to rack up as many points and tries as possible, with Gilroy finishing superbly after Andrew Trimble had shown the initiative to take a quick throw-in near the Oyonnax line.

Diack dotted down at the foot of a maul with the Television Match Official awarding the score, while Humphreys could barely believe the space he was afforded as he went through a huge hole in the defence.

Payne raced between the posts for the eighth try, to match Ulster's previous highest tally in a European fixture, while Humphreys conversion made it a record eight for the hosts as their nervous wait begins.

The Scorers:

For Ulster:

Tries: Herring. Cave, Scholes, Reidy, Gilroy, Diack, Humphreys, Payne

Cons: Humphreys 8

For Oyonnax: 

Pen: Clegg

Teams:

Ulster: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Paul Marshall,  8 Nick Williams, 7 Sean Reidy, 6 Robbie Diack, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Alan O'Connor, 3 Ricky Lutton, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Kyle McCall.

Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Callum Black, 18 Bronson Ross, 19 Clive Ross, 20 Roger Wilson, 21 David Shanahan, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Rory Scholes.

Oyonnax: 15 Florian Denos, 14 Daniel Ikpefan, 13 Guillaume Bousses, 12 Alaska Taufa, 11 Dug Codjo, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Julien Blanc, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Pierrick Gunther, 6 Valentin Ursache, 5 Geoffrey Fabbri, 4 Leon Power, 3 Giorgi Vepkhvadze, 2 Thomas Bordes, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.

Replacements: 16 Jeremie Maurouard, 17 Laurent Delboulbès, 18 Horace Pungea , 19 Fabrice Metz, 20 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 21 Fabien Cibray, 22 Regis Lespinas, 23 Eamonn Sherid.

Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)

Assistant referees: Matteo Liperini (Italy), Simone Boaretto (Italy)

TMO: Stefano Pennè (Italy)

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