Round one to Ulster

The bear pit of European rugby is open for business once again as Ulster beat Saracens in a crucial dual header qualifying group match at Ravenhill. The sign on the stand reads “ Be afraid be very afraid.” And all teams that come here should be. This was an absolute firecracker taken from the annals of a boy’s own story. If they could bottle this stuff fortunes would be made. It had all the ingredients you could ever ask for in a typically big night at Ravenhill. Friday nights at Ravenhill are something very special and the incredible. highly charged emotional atmosphere is what we got tonight. Exactly what we wanted too. It was an absolute firecracker from start to finish with neither side wishing to be dominated by the other and the exchanges often spilled off the pitch onto the respective physio benches such was the intensity. The high drama that was to unfold in the story of the tight Ulster pack gaining the crucial ascendancy, in a night where forward power was everything, as the lashing conditions made handling problematic to say the least. Throughout, the shining star of David Humphries was to dominate proceedings from beginning to end in a master class display that leaves his rivals in the twilight.

Flying high

Saracens started predictably and sensibly by tucking the ball up their jumpers and inching forward before unleashing the excellent Jackson to pin Ulster in the corners, forcing the home side to throw, kick for touch and lose possession. Jackson kicked very cleverly denying Ulster any sort of possession for much of the first half but whenever Ulster had a rare opportunity to attack it was an ominous sign for Saracens. However, early on from an Ulster line out Jackson broke the Ulster line to dart over under the post and open the scoring with 7 points. The Ulster lineout had inexplicably failed on this, the first of four occasions when thrown to the tail. It was either overthrown or there was a complete breakdown in communications with the end product a gleeful Saracens try. In the early exchanges it seemed that Saracens were quicker to the breakdown and with Ulster spilling what little ball they got in contact, it was a full 25 minutes before El Maestro put the first points on the board for his side, making the score Ulster 3 : 7 Saracens. Far from flattering for the visitors, it was lucky it was not more, as Jackson missed 2 sitters in front of the posts in what might be a case of poetic justice if the views of the partisan crowd were anything to go by.

Rory Best scores a try

Defensively Ulster were up against a very well drilled side and without any decent ball of their own the signs were not looking good at the end of the half. But it was a half that first witnessed the rejuvenation of Roger Wilson tackling hard and moving about the defence more reminiscent of his earlier days putting in the hard work. Humphries relieved the line gaining huge yardage with his siege gun boot while Saracens were inventive and troublesome with Bracken and Castaignede being particularly inventive. It was obvious that Saracens had not come to lose, playing a physically very intimidating game with the whistle bringing a bit of comfort to Ulster when both sides departed for the changing rooms at halftime.

Ulster sprang out of the locks at the start of the second and early pressure and field position were undone by knockons in contact as a result of some seriously hard tackling by the Saracens. Ulster needed to reorganise the lineout and play rugby going forward and take the initiative away from the visitors. It started with some good breaks by the ever impressing McCullough linking up with Tommy Bowe in one of his trademark surging runs. Roger Wilson made a storming break through the maul brushing aside 2 tackles raging the crowd to its feet before off-loading to Steinmetz to kick through with Trimble just beaten to the touchdown. It was the Ulster pack who were now beginning to dominate with Justin Harrison barking his orders, as the continued pressure told with Saracens conceding the penalty for Humphries to make the score Ulster 6 : 7 Saracens. Right from the restart with the crowd seething on its feet Ulster attacked, gaining great field position close to the Saracens line after a misfired pass, and with the pressure on Humphries, dropped deep into the pocket only for his kick to be charged down and then from the ensuing rescue mission he kicked skewiff and the best opportunity of the match was lost as Saracens stuck it up their jumper again forcing Ulster to bring down the maul for an easy Jackson penalty to leave the score balanced Ulster 6 :10 Saracens. It seemed that Ulster hearts would be broken and they would be the makers of their own undoing with sloppy line out, unnecessary knockons and a few penalties that went the wrong way. With 10 minutes to go the sky was not looking too rosy but this side never lay down.

A job well done!

Again Saracens failed to deal with a well-placed Humphries kick close to their line after a tremendous period of pressure from the pack who were starting to show the visitors true venom and determination; in particular Neil Best at the fore. From the ruck Castaignede deliberately knocked on and was shown the yellow for his troubles and Humphries brought Ulster to within a point. It was game on. In an electric end to the game Saracens kicked down the middle for Ulster to gather and pump the ball straight down the park. Then Matt Cairns strayed off side for Humphries to put Ulster in front by 2 points and Saracens were down to 13 men. The pressure and high tempo play by the Ulster eight was beginning to pay dividends. Soon after, the icing was put on the cake as Ulster were exploiting the space vacated by the 2 binned players again crushing Saracens on their line before Rory Best displayed his agile handling skills to score in the corner from a very clever Humphries kick through. The resulting conversion lifted the lid of Ravenhill as it exploded into a cacophony of exultation and victory. Final score Ulster 19 : 10 Saracens.

Both sides were uncompromising in spirit and manner. The return game on Saturday is lining up to be something of an epic with a lot of unsettled scores to be reckoned with. Ulster will have sorted their lineout by then and Saracens will have licked their wounds better in preparation of the second part of the epic. Ulster now have a real chance to do well in Watford but Saracens will not be bowed and it will take all of Ulster’s might to come away with the win.

Ulster: B Cunningham; T Bowe, K Maggs, A Trimble, P Steinmetz; D Humphreys, K Campbell; B Young, R Best, S Best, J Harrison, M McCullough, N Best, N McMillan, R Wilson.
Replacements: N Brady, R Moore, R Caldwell, S Ferris, I Boss, A Larkin, J Topping.

Saracens: D Scarbrough; P Bailey, T Casaignede, K Sorrell, T Vaikona; G Jackson, K Bracken; K Yates, S Byrne, C Visagie, S Raiwalui, K Chesney, H Vyvyan, B Russell, B Skirving.
Replacements: A Kyriacou, B Broster, M Cairns, D Seymour, A Dickens, M Bartholomeusz, B J Russell.

Referee: Eric Darriere (France).