Ulster defeat Sale to set up clash with Leinster in last 16 of Champions Cup

Ulster 22 Sale Sharks 11

Ulster chose their moment well to rediscover some winning form again as this first taste of victory in this term’s Champions Cup propelled them forward to the knockout stages at Sale’s expense.

In what was always destined to be an arm-wrestle of an encounter, the northern province importantly demonstrated that they still have the wherewithal to close out games – last weekend in La Rochelle having been added to what was becoming quite a rap sheet of late slip-ups – and did so roared on at the Kingspan Stadium to end a miserable run which had seen them win once in seven games before last Saturday evening.

Their reward for all the hard graft put in through their forwards, a dominant last 20 minutes yielding tries for Rob Herring and Duane Vermeulen, as well as strong showings from wingers Rob Lyttle and Jacob Stockdale, alongside a game-altering cameo off the bench from John Cooney, is, though, a rather daunting last 16 tie at Leinster.

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Not that Ulster were too bothered on Saturday evening about a trip to Dublin, indeed, at the time, this was still not fully inked in as there was still the remote possibility of a sizeable win for London Irish in Montpellier moving the province up one place from eighth in Pool B.

Understandably, all Ulster wanted to do, or indeed could do, was exhale and enjoy the moment. Apart from winning, just turning out in Belfast was to be relished after round two with La Rochelle had been staged behind closed doors at the Aviva Stadium.

Added to that was the 39-0 drubbing which had been handed to them by Sale in round one so, all in all, there was plenty of context.

“It’s important obviously,” Ulster coach Dan McFarland admitted of getting back to winning again, their previous victory having been at Connacht before Christmas.

“It’s important to give us the excitement of playing a round of 16 game but it’s probably more important that we’ll be able to look back at the performance and say that our defence was hitting them and in our attack we were really physical and produced some lightning quick ball.

“We’ve been in a bit of a slump in terms of our own form,” he added, “but I don’t think we’ve been miles away.

“You rely on your basics, you understand that you keep fighting, keep working hard, keep playing for each other and when guys put their hand up like that (on Saturday) you’ll find a performance at some point.”

[ Leinster made to work hard by Racing 92 before pulling away to secure top seeding ]

Trailing 11-8 early in the second half, Ulster admirably gradually ground Sale down through the dominance of their pack and, in particular, the familiar weapon of the lineout maul and close-in pick and goes.

It meant that they scored 14 unanswered points – Herring’s try arriving in the 64th minute and Vermeulen’s with four to go – and simply bottled Sale up in their own 22, a situation which saw Jono Ross yellow carded late on.

All a far cry from how things opened with the visitors going at it full tilt.

But Sale failed to build on an early Robert du Preez penalty and after Bevan Rodd was yellow carded, Ulster worked Lyttle over in the right corner.

Du Preez’s second penalty nudged the visitors in front until just before the break when Nathan Doak’s reply put Ulster 8-6 ahead.

Doak, though, was binned five minutes into the new half for a deliberate knock-on and Sale took advantage with a lineout move around the front yielding a try for Ben Curry.

That put Sale 11-8 up, but Ulster’s superior bench and dogged desire proved the decisive factors in this ferocious struggle.

ULSTER: M Lowry; R Lyttle, J Hume, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, N Doak; A Warwick, T Stewart, J Toomaga-Allen; A O’Connor (capt), S Carter; H Sheridan, N Timoney, D Vermeulen.

Replacements: J Cooney for Sheridan (51 mins), R Herring for Stewart, E O’Sullivan for Warwick and T O’Toole for Toomaga-Allen (all 53 mins), J Murphy for Doak (56 mins), K Treadwell for Carter (62 mins).

SALE: J Carpenter; T O’Flaherty, S James, M Tuilagi, A Reed; R Du Preez, G Warr; B Rodd, E Ashman, J Harper; J Beaumont, J Hill; J Ross, B Curry, J-L Du Preez.

Replacements: R Quirke for Warr (44 mins), T Roebuck for Reed (49 mins), T Taylor for Ashman, R Harrison for Rodd and J Jones for Harper (all 58 mins), S Dugdale for Beaumont 63 mins, T Curtis for James (73 mins).

Referee: P Brousset (France)