[tag=image]http://i.rugbyrama.fr/2013/05/24/1015324.jpg[/tag][tag=content]Ulster laboured to a hard fought 27-16 win over Montpellier tonight in the Heineken Cup to maintain their 100% record in the competition, although they will have left Ravenhill feeling disappointed they did not gain a try bonus point.
Against what was described as a Montpellier second string side, the Ulstermen ran in three tries, but could not find that all-important fourth try that would have sealed their place in the last eight.
Robbie Diack, man of the match Ruan Pienaar, and John Afoa all crossed for Ulster who made hard work of their win, and now know that unless Treviso pull off a shock and defeat Leicester tomorrow, then it is likely they will need to win at Welford Road to finish top of Pool Five.
Young scrum-half Eric Escande scored eleven points from the boot and Robins Tchale-Watchou crossed for Montpellier’s solitary try, but in the second half the French visitors did not offer much and go back to France with nothing to show for their efforts.
Ulster got out of the blocks faster as expected and after a trademark Irish choke tackle from Luke Marshall and Chris Henry, the hosts went on the attack, and an early penalty was pushed wide by Ruan Pienaar.
Escande made Pienaar pay for his miss by landing a penalty of his own from just inside the Ulster half to give Montpellier an early 3-0 lead, despite the Herault side not seeing much of the ball in the opening few minutes.
Ulster were struggling to get their backs moves going as Montpellier adopted a high defensive line, knocking the Ulstermen back at every phase and eventually forcing the errors, leaving the Ulster fans frustrated with their team.
Escande had a chance to double the French side’s lead on fifteen minutes, however this time the kick was just out of the 21-year old’s range and the ball fell agonisingly short. Not short on confidence, his attempted drop goal two minutes later sailed just wide of the right-hand uprights.
Ulster on the other hand were playing a risky game – on two occasions they fumbled the ball inside their own half giving Montpellier field position, but a clever kick from calm scrum-half Ruan Pienaar cleared their lines.
And they got their first try of the evening after a clever cross-field kick from Paddy Jackson found Robbie Diack standing on the wing, who managed to shrug off the attempted tackle from Lucas Dupont to touch down, which was confirmed by TMO Simon Davey.
It wasn’t long before Ulster managed to go over for their second try, albeit with an element of luck involved, as Ruan Pienaar put a clever kick over the top into the Montpellier 22 and whenever Dupont couldn’t gather the ball on the ground, the Springbok scrum-half was there to capitalise and dive over for his first try of the Heineken Cup campaign.
Montpellier were not out of it though, and a break from Charles Géli through the Ulster line provided the space for him to offload to huge lock Robins Tchale-Watchou, who sauntered over unopposed in the corner for the visitors’ only five-pointer in the thirtieth minute.
It was certainly a shock to the system for Ulster, but Ruan Pienaar was on hand to take their lead out to seven points with his first penalty of the evening in the thirty-fifth minute after Montpellier’s onrushing defensive line were caught offside.
Ulster’s discipline was letting them down however, and Escande was there to land his second penalty of the evening after Johann Muller dragged down Mickael de Marco at the line-out to leave the score at 17-13 going into half-time.
In a very similar fashion to the first half, Ulster started the brighter of the two teams and won a penalty from a Montpellier scrum, only this time Ruan Pienaar was on target with his kick to restore Ulster’s seven-point advantage.
Montpellier were still hungry for the game though, and they pounced on some clumsy Ulster play to hack through and win a line-out on the Ulster 22, however a knock on from ex-Ulsterman Timoci Nagusa ended the threat of a second Montpellier try.
This time though it was Montpellier’s turn to win a scrum penalty against the head which Escande duly knocked over to cancel out Pienaar’s earlier effort.
The home side were struggling to gain any momentum in the second period as the Montpellier backs continued to disrupt their attempted moves. However a strong Ulster attack slowly made its way into the Montpellier 22, and Darren Cave was metres away from scoring his second try in two weeks only to knock on Paddy Jackson’s stabbed kick through.
That mistake wasn’t to haunt them though, as a fortuitous bounce from Ruan Pienaar’s box kick through moments later fell kindly into John Afoa’s hands and the Gloucester-bound prop found a gap between the last two defenders to score Ulster’s third try leaving them one away from the try bonus point.
But Montpellier seemed determined to contest every stereotype of travelling French sides and they came at Ulster again, threatening to immediately cancel out Afoa’s try, but some good work on the floor by the Ulster back row earned the hosts a valuable clearing penalty.
With both sides changing their props midway through the second half, the French were able to boast a much stronger scrum, and they used it to great effect, winning one against the head and then managing to win a penalty from a ruck, however Escande uncharacteristically hit the post from a relatively straightforward position.
This seemed to spur Ulster on, and after Ruan Pienaar charged down a Paillaugue clearance, he then managed to intercept Paillaugue as he attempted to kick again, and his run for the line nearly resulted in the fourth try, but some superb defensive work from substitute full-back Pierre Berard saw Pienaar held up in-goal.
Ulster kept creating chances though, and Michael Allen was the next to go close, managing to brush aside the challenge of Timoci Nagusa, only for the TMO to correctly rule that he had put a foot in touch before grounding the ball.
And despite having considerable possession in the Montpellier 22 at the end of the game, Ulster could not manage to get over for the bonus point which would have sealed their progression to the knockout stages, with Andrew Trimble knocking on from a long Pienaar pass with one minute left on the clock.
Instead the hosts had to settle for a hard-fought win taking them up to 22 points in the standings, however they now face a huge task at Welford Road next week, as they will probably need to win if they want to finish the pool as winners.
The scorers
For Ulster
Tries: Diack, Pienaar, Afoa
Cons: Pienaar (3)
Pens: Pienaar (2)
For Montpellier
Try: Tchale-Watchou
Con: Escande
Pens: Escande (3)
ULSTER RUGBY
(15-9) Jared Payne, Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy (Michael Allen 55), Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar; (1-8) Tom Court (Callum Black 58), Rory Best (Rob Herring 70), John Afoa (Declan Fitzpatrick 60), Johann Muller (Iain Henderson 61), Dan Tuohy, Robbie Diack, Chris Henry (Sean Doyle 70), Nick Williams (Roger Wilson 40).
Sub not used: Paul Marshall.
MONTPELLIER HERAULT
(15-9) Anthony Floch (Pierre Berard 58), Yohan Artru (Timoci Nagusa 40), Anthony Tuitavaké, Thomas Combezou, Lucas Dupont, Enzo Selponi (Benoit Paillaugue 37), Eric Escande; (1-8) Na’ama Leleimalefaga (Mikheil Nariashvili 61), Charles Géli, Maximiliano Bustos (Paea Fa’anunu 61), Mickael de Marco, Robins Tchale-Watchou (Mickael Ivaldi 78), Kélian Galletier (Fred Quercy 3), Alexandre Bias, Johnnie Beattie.
Sub not used: Yvan Watremez.
Man of the Match: Ruan Pienaar (Ulster)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)[/tag]
Match Report: Ulster Rugby 27-16 Montpellier Herault
Moderator: Moderators
