Pool Five/ Ulster 30 Toulouse 3: There were more reasons than those of nationality to explain why Eddie O'Sullivan was off his seat, fists clenched, saluting the Ulster team's first-half assault on Toulouse.
The scrumhalf he had invited on Ireland's summer tour to Australia and New Zealand, Isaac Boss, had just sold the neatest of dummies in midfield and sprinted almost half the length of the pitch to put Ulster an unimaginable 20-0 in front with barely half an hour gone in their opening Heineken European Cup match.
David Humphreys had gathered a ball inside the Ulster 22, lined up for a kick to touch only to snatch the ball back to his body and punch forward out of the Ulster danger zone. The move finally broke down with Bryn Cunningham grounded well into the Toulouse half before it was fed back and ultimately reached the audacious Boss.
"I was just surprised there was no one coming through the back there. There was just a gap off the forwards at the ruck," said Boss. "I'm just lucky I had the pace to get to the line. I don't know who was covering over. I just had the blinkers on.
"But you've got to look at all the work done by the team before that, to create all the holes."
If cameos can characterise a first half, then Ulster's first sweeping try would also have to go into O'Sullivan's book Early Reasons to Feel Pleased. It ended with the galloping, two-try Andrew Trimble, all elbows, knees, speed and now additional bulk, touching down in the left corner but not before Boss, Humphreys, Paul Steinmetz and the soon-to-be-injured Tommy Bowe had essayed a chain of sweet interchanges swooping forward from their own half, Bowe's subtly judged pass to Trimble that should halt unflattering comments about the Ulster backline for some time to come.
With Humphreys picking up the man-of-the-match award for his overall play, the Ireland coach may also have been hearing the voice of the Irish playmaker in his head as he lurched out of his seat. That Humphreys declared he would be available this World Cup season as back up to Ronan O'Gara if needed, was then and probably is now a comfort to O'Sullivan, given the freshness and inventiveness so evident now in the 36-year-old. On the evidence on view against a Toulouse side that took 40 minutes to show up, Humphreys' decision to step back from international rugby appears a prudent one.
But for Ulster coach Mark McCall, the delivery of a result before facing Llanelli next week is an important step forward. The fact that Ulster went into half-time 30-3 ahead and finished the match without the important fourth try may on reflection irritate but should not diminish the performance. That the likes of Stephen Ferris, his 21-year-old open side flanker, was eye-catching in space and amongst bodies and was unlucky not to get a first-half try following a text book training ground lineout, will have been another pleasing aspect for the coach.
Justin Harrison rose for the take, delivered straight back to Boss, who fed Ferris at pace punching through the gap between the sideline and the first lineout jumper. Ferris made the line but not before the referee brought a halt to the move.
Trimble, too, did enough to make his ongoing head-to-head with Denis Hickie for O'Sullivan's left-wing position, a source of interest. His second try from midfield after Humphreys popped up the ball in a gap and launched him towards the Toulouse posts was engaging for two reasons. The first for Trimble's determination to find the line and the second the way he bulldozed the covering French winger, Vincent Clerc, aside.
"Yeh, Humps put me into a gap and I couldn't believe how much space I was in. Then you just leg it for the line," said Trimble. "He (Clerc) was coming over to me but I've been working a lot on my speed and my power and I was thinking 'I wonder am I going to be fast enough to take this'. If Id put a little step on it I might have made it a bit easier for myself."
By then, in first-half injury-time, you wondered whether the French really wanted to know much more about this contest. Certainly the word emanating from France that they were struggling to find form and had already shipped large score defeats was being borne out and whether this can be seen as a great Ulster win or a tragic French collapse is up for grabs. Either way, Ulster's first half was sublime and they ground when they had to. They won't get carried away but the have made their point.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4 mins: A Trimble try, D Humphreys con 7-0; 9: D Humphreys pen 10-0; 16: D Humphreys pen 13-0; 19: V Courrent pen 13-3; 31: I Boss try, D Humphreys con 20-3; 40: A Trimble try, D Humphreys con 27-3; 43: D Humphreys pen 30-3. Half-time 30-3.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, P Steinmetz, P Wallace, D Trimble; D Humphreys, I Boss; J Fitzpatrick, R Best, B Young, J Harrison, M McCullough, N Best, S Ferris, R Wilson. Replacements: A Maxwell for Bowe (25 mins); K Dawson for Ferris (64 mins); K Maggs for Steinmetz (75 mins); T Barker for Harrison, S Best for Fitzpatrick (both 76 mins); K Campbell for Boss (80 mins).
TOULOUSE: C Poitrenaud; V Clerc, Y Jauzion, F fritz, C Heymans; JF Dubois, V Courrent; S Perugini, Y Bru, O Hasan, P Albacete, T Brennan, T Dusautoir, F Pelous, G Lamboley. Replacements: G Thomas for Clerc (h-t); D Human for Hasan (51 mins); X Garbajosa for Poitrenaud (59 minutes); J Bouilhon for Abacete (64 mins).
Referee: D Pearson (RFU).
