Team V Bayonne

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Final Score: Bayonne 40-3 Ulster
Report later I think

[cables]

Friendly: Bayonne 40 -3 Ulster
10 August 2011, 7:34 pm ::Match Report By Lyndsey IrwinUlster find it tough in France in the first of three pre-season friendlies...Bayonne, playing their second game in five days, following last Friday's friendly against Pau, opened strongly with 19 unanswered points before young out-half James McKinney, making his first appearance in a senior Ulster shirt, slotted over a penalty close to the half-time break.
A considerable crowd turned out to watch Bayonne's final pre-season game before they host Toulouse in the first round of the Top 14 in two weeks time and they were not disappointed.

Bayonne were on the scoreboard with a converted try after 15 minutes and added a second try (unconverted) just after the quarter mark, running the length of the field after Ulster turned the ball over.

The home side stretched their lead with a third try (converted) on 35 minutes with a neat grubber kick in behind the Ulster defence before young Ulster outhalf James McKinney opened the visitors' account with a penalty just before the stroke of half time.

Half-time Score: Bayonne 19-3 Ulster

Two unanswered converted tries in the first quarter of the second half stretched Bayonne's lead to 33-3 and by the 70 minute mark and with all 11 of Ulster's replacements used, the French had added another to push the score out to 40-3.

Full-time Score: Bayonne 40 - Ulster

[The FRU]

They play Treviso at home on 18th August as their final warm up fixture before playing Toulouse on 26th Aug according to their match fixtures.

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Ulster's Director of Rugby, David Humphreys felt that the game had been a good opportunity for Ulster's youngsters

"Given that we are missing so many of our regular match-day 23, either through international call-up or injuries, this game has been a very good opportunity and a steep learning curve for our young players who got a chance this evening to see what playing at this level is all about".

"While we're disappointed with the score-line, it was not wholly unexpected given where the two teams are in terms of their pre-season preparations."

"The game was very set-piece orientated, in typically French fashion Bayonne were very strong up front and mauled us a lot but in comparison to our friendly last season against Harlequins which was very similar, this time we actually got some ball although being the first run-out we had too many turnovers which didn't help and a number of their tries came from our mistakes."

"No-one likes to be sitting in the dressing room on the wrong end of a 40 point score-line but on the whole we're certainly not panicking, and we have two more friendlies and plenty of work ahead of us before our first competitive game against Glasgow in the Pro12."

On a positive note, there appear to be no serious injuries from the game;

"As you'd expect from an early pre-season game we had some players with cramp but other than a few bumps and bruises we appear to have come through the match unscathed." said Humphreys.

[for dog and ulcer]

Ulster's Director of Rugby, David Humphreys felt that the game had been a good opportunity for Ulster's youngsters

"No-one likes to be sitting in the dressing room on the wrong end of a 40 point score-line but on the whole we're certainly not panicking, and we have two more friendlies and plenty of work ahead of us before our first competitive game against Glasgow in the Pro12."

I interpret this as "We got a bigger hiding than expected and are now in a panic". It reminds me of the party leader "I have every confidence"speeches.

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Leicester Tigers opened their pre-season account with a 50-24 defeat by Top 14 side Montpellier in Millau

Just shows French sides are ahead of the rest of us at this time of the season

[Loki]

all relatively unimportant in the grand scheme but that is a spanking.

[Big-al]

Leicester Tigers opened their pre-season account with a 50-24 defeat by Top 14 side Montpellier in Millau

Just shows French sides are ahead of the rest of us at this time of the season

That actually makes me feel a lot better, although Montpellier are a lot better than Bayonne

[notj]

What annoys me is our own lack of try-scoring. I'm seriously worried we're going to struggle to score tries without Humphreys at 10 if he does miss the first game or two. Losing our 9, 10 and 12 is a serious issue. I hope to god one of the young outhalves puts his hand up.

[robrfc15]

Tbh guys ya have to look at it like this, first game of the season, it was a friendly were things are allowed to go wrong as thats what the guys are going to learn from, their mistakes. The match meant nothing and another thing the squad was gelling together again in first game back and my last point is as long as noone got injured and everyone pulled through, then i'm happy enough. No need to panic.

STAND UP FOR THE ULSTER MEN

[SparkyClarky]

Not really to worried about this thrashing. Just think it would have been better to even come close in losing bonus mode....considering France is a place we have never been fond of going!

Yes would have been good to keep the scoreline down and score a few try's of our own. New partnerships, subs galore and a lot of youngsters!

Last year on 13/8/10 when bath beat us at home in that pre-season friendly, I sat in the stand thinking how it would give confidence to Bath considering they were in our HEC pool again. The worry of we will not repeat the home & away win of the previous year sprung to mind!

In the end that match had no bearing on the fixture when it came around.

last year we won 1 out of 3 preseason against a very poor Leeds side!

Looking forward to a great season ahead when it starts for real!

C'Mon Ulster!!!

[ColinM]

I think having the first match out of sight for 99.9% of fans was intentional and a wise move.

[Ardglass2]

Heard directly from a player in the team that day that if we play like that against Quins we will ship 60+ points.
He thought we were very poor