Stade Francais 24 Ulster 19:BY THE time Matt Williams arrives in Sydney today following a 22-hour flight for a two-week break to catch up with his family, the Ulster coach will no doubt have taken significant satisfaction from reflecting on his team's remarkable progress over recent months.
Last October, rumours were beginning to circulate that the Australian might not see out his contract beyond Christmas as the province lost their first four Magners League games and their first two pool games in the Heineken Cup.
Williams vehemently quashed the speculation, despite the fact that his family remain in Sydney because of one of his children's educational needs, and instead kept faith with a young squad he believed would eventually start delivering on their potential.
And from the ashes, Ulster rose like a phoenix, landing wins against Munster (twice) and Connacht in the Magners League as well as victories against the Scarlets and Harlequins in the Heineken Cup to reignite their season.
The resurgence however was too late to salvage Ulster's Heineken Cup campaign, which came to another premature end on Saturday at the Stade Jean Bouin, and the 24-19 lost to Stade Francais was a timely reminder that Williams' task remains work in progress.
"I must say how happy I am with the guys in terms of effort and courage," said Williams. "We came here with a plan to run the ball, and I thought our offloading and running in the first half was magnificent.
"We made break after break but we didn't take those chances and we missed our kicks. But I am loathe to criticise the players because they gave their all, and there is nothing left in that dressing room. We dominated the game and the better team lost, but at the end of the day the scoreboard says we lost."
Ulster had travelled to Paris buoyant from their victory over pool qualifiers Harlequins and determined to land their first win on French soil and Williams even made a bold statement by giving a number of his exciting young fringe players a start, with second-place finish in Pool Four the prize on offer for the victors.
Of the seven Ulster players named in Ireland's 39-man Six Nations squad midweek, only Andrew Trimble and Ryan Caldwell were handed starting roles, with Ian Whitten making his debut at outside centre.
After a blitzkrieg opening in bright sunshine, it looked as if the visitors were going to give Williams the perfect send-off for his short break. Ulster had most of the first-half play, putting together a number of gilt-edged chances but their 8-6 lead at the interval was a poor reward.
Ulster had dominated both territory and possession and made a host of line-breaks with both Whitten and Simon Danielli posing major threats to the Stade defence. And yet the visitors had to wait for a Paul Steinmetz try three minutes from the break to cancel out two penalties by Lionel Beauxis after Niall O'Connor had given them an early lead with a penalty in the 15th minute.
Clinton Schifscofske took over the kicking duties after O'Connor had only landed one of four first-half attempts and was able to extend Ulster's lead with a 46th minute penalty.
But when a Beauxis penalty and try by Juan Leguizamon finally got Stade's noses in front, they were able to keep Ulster just about at arm's length for the reminder of the contest.
A fourth Beauxis penalty left Ulster needing a converted try to regain the lead but when Schifcofske slotted his second penalty eight minutes from time, Ulster's hopes of snatching victory were briefly rekindled.
A Mark Gasnier try three minutes from time, converted by Beauxis, eventually settled things but a late touchdown by Ulster hooker Nigel Brady at least gave the visitors a losing bonus point.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 15mins: N O'Connor pen, 0-3; 28: L Beauxis pen, 3-3; 29: Beauxis pen, 6-3; 35: P Steinmetz try, 6-8; 46: C Schifscofske pen, 6-11; 49: Beauxis pen, 9-11; 54: J Leguizamon try, 14-11; 58: Beauxis pen, 17-11; 72: Schifcofske pen, 17-14; 77: M Gasnier, Beauxis con, 24-14; 80: N Brady try, 24-19.
STADE FRANCAIS: G Bousses; J Arias, M Bastareaud, M Gasnier, D Camara; L Beauxis, N Oelschig; S Marconnet, L Sempere, F Montanella, R-T Watchou, P Vigouroux, M Bergamasco, P Rabadan, J-M Leguizamon.
Replacements: Jeanjean for Bousses (63), M Bergamasco for Arias (76), Albouy for Oelschig (47), Parisse for M Bergamasco (59), Attoub for Montanella (47), Szarzewski for Sempere (47).
ULSTER: Schifcofske; Trimble, Steinmetz, Whitten, Danielli; O'Connor, Marshall; Young, Brady, Botha, O'Donoghue, Caldwell, McCullough, Pollock, Henry.
Replacements: McCrea for Danielli (76), Boss for Marshall (47), Court for Young (52), Philpott for Botha (73), Faloon for McCullough (71), Dawson for Henry (48).
Referee: W Barnes (England).
