Clermont 19 Ulster 15THERE WOULD be no landmark victory for Ulster in France on Saturday, as they were edged out on the day and at the top of Pool Four by Ti'i Paulo's try in the final quarter.
While they left holding regrets over missed opportunities, the visitors will also have gained plenty of belief after coming within minutes of dumping Clermont out of the competition.
Indeed, after mauling Leicester at Ravenhill, this display should embolden them ahead of another away trip in the last eight.
“What we wanted to do was back up last week – to show that we were proper contenders in this competition,” said a bullish Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin afterwards.
“That we could actually be talked about in the same breath as Leinster, Munster, Toulouse. I feel, all credit to these guys, that they have done that.”
Already assured of a place in the quarter-finals as one of the best runners-up following Friday night’s games, Ulster seriously worried a Clermont team that has not lost at home since November 2009.
They led twice in the second half but Paulo’s try with 18 minutes left meant Clermont topped the pool courtesy of a better head-to-head record (in terms of tries scored) in meetings between the sides.
It had not seemed like it would be quite as tight early in the game, as Clermont produced a vicious opening onslaught. Within 45 seconds Sitiveni Sivivatu had swept inside Craig Gilroy to find Aurelien Rougerie on the wing, and only a forward pass saved Ulster.
Soon Dan Tuohy was yellow-carded for felling Morgan Parra as he took a quick penalty but the sin-binning seemed to concentrate minds. When the secondrow returned midway through the half, his side were just three points behind.
As Ulster grew in confidence, the hosts faltered. A big budget brings big pressure, and, with his side needing a win to stay in the competition, the Clermont coach Vern Cotter had had stern words with a BBC camera crew that he thought had been filming their final training session on Friday.
The tension was telling on the pitch too after Clermont’s initial assault went unrewarded and a wayward pass by Rougerie almost allowed Gilroy in, only for the wing to be denied by Lionel Faure’s desperate tackle.
There was good variation to Ulster’s game but the lineout remained their best platform. Andrew Trimble was just held up after one such attack and a second Ruan Pienaar penalty made it 6-6 at the break.
Normally respectful of kickers in these parts, the locals were howling at Pienaar before he kicked Ulster ahead soon after the resumption. It was a sign of how uncomfortable things were becoming for Clermont, and Cotter responded by replacing the hapless outhalf David Skrela with Brock James.
The sides traded penalties but when Ulster again failed to take a restart cleanly, Clermont turned the screw. Lee Byrne crossed but his try was rightly ruled out as Nathan Hines had been holding Stephen Ferris’s leg with one hand and Pedrie Wannenburg’s jersey with the other during the build-up.
Clermont had changed tack to attack through the middle and the forwards, rejuvenated by fresh legs from the bench, began pounding the Ulster line.
Paulo burrowed over, although Hines was yet again up to no good as he did so.
Ulster then lost their nerve as they pressed for a win. First Johann Muller’s dissent resulted in a penalty being overturned and after a botched lineout in the Clermont 22, their chance was gone.
“Towards the end we just had a few uncharacteristic errors,” hooker Rory Best admitted. “We lost the two easiest lineouts of the game. Anything that went in the air we won and then the two short ones to the front were crooked and I’ll have to hold my hands up. Those are big moments that can turn a game.”
Cotter was highly impressed by Ulster and said they were “very close” to being as good as the Leinster and Munster sides that lost at the Stade Marcel-Michelin in the past.
High praise indeed, which reflected Best’s conviction that this Ulster side travel with expectation rather than hope. “We now feel that we can work our way into positions to win these games and we did. We had two chances late on and we didn’t take them,” he said. “The encouraging thing, once we settle down, is that this was arguably the toughest group in the competition and we very, very nearly topped it and in fact I think we were just a couple of tries off topping it. It’s a good sign for us,” he added.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 14 mins: Parra pen 3-0; 17: Pienaar pen 3-3; 21: Parra pen 6-3; 32: Pienaar pen 6-6. Half-time: 6-6. 45: Pienaar pen 6-9; 49: Parra pen 9-9; 57: Pienaar pen 9-12; 62: Paulo try, Parra con 16-12; 70: Pienaar pen 16-15; 73: Parra pen 19-15.
ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE: L Byrne; S Sivivatu, A Rougerie (capt), W Fofana, J Malzieu; D Skrela, M Parra; L Faure, B Kayser, C Ric, J Pierre, N Hines, G Vosloo, J Bardy, J Bonnaire. Replacements: V Debaty for Faure, B James for Skrela (both 46 mins); T Paulo for Kayser (53 mins); A Lapandry for Bardy (56 mins); D Kotze for Ric (64 mins); J Cudmore for Pierre (67 mins); R King for Byrne (70 mins).
ULSTER: S Terblanche; A Trimble, I Whitten, P Wallace, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best, J Afoa, J Muller (capt), D Tuohy, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg. Replacements: P Marshall for Humphreys (61 mins); W Faloon for Wannenburg (74 mins) Sin-bin: Tuohy (13 mins).
Referee: Dave Pearson (England).
