Ulster shaken to the core as Exiles hammer home a point
It was thought Ulster would finally side-step the ghost of never having won on English soil in European competition. But when they were savaged by a fired-up London Irish outfit, Saturday’s trip to Reading proved just as unsuccessful as the previous eight.
Ulster knew this was their pivotal game of the season but they fell off the roundabout. Instead, it will be London Irish who will benefit from the bonus-point victory, and give them a psychological edge for next week’s return tie at Fortress Ravenhill, and finally kick-start their season.
Hot favourites Ulster have nobody to blame but themselves for turning in a performance that was one-dimensional, bland, full of indiscipline and error-strewn, with seasoned performers not steeping up to the plate.
It leaves the Celtic League champions needing to win their remaining three fixtures and pick up a bonus point or two along the way to top Pool 5. With runaway leaders Llanelli and an away trip to Toulouse also to follow, that’s virtually an impossible task.
“Getting anywhere near the European Cup is a long shot now, but we have three games to win and I want to win those games and this team wants to win those games,” said Ulster’s assistant coach Allen Clarke.
“We did not start well at all, with our discipline letting us down. We were penalised six times and that allowed them to get into field positions and they scored two quick tries.
“We are hugely disappointed with that performance. It was just not acceptable. We got ourselves back into the game at half-time and our changing room was buzzing and believing.
“We were just a point behind at half-time, and it was a game to be won,” added Clarke, who would have expected to overturn the Exiles after they had two men sin-binned prior to the half-time whistle.
“We were playing on the front foot, we were playing a lot of good rugby and carrying the ball to them.
“But our precision and our accuracy wasn’t good enough during the critical period.
“London Irish come to Ravenhill next Friday, and we need to see a big reaction from the players.
“We are better than this performance. This team still has a lot to play for in terms of the remainder of the season. Europe may now be a dream, but it is all about our credibility now.”
There was not much credibility about the Ulster defence in the opening half when they allowed England’s World Cup winning hero Matt Catt to dictate the terms and then the 20-year-old protégé Shane Geraghty to apply the coup de grace.
Ulster’s midfield defence allowed Argentine Juan Leguizamon to bulldoze over and then Catt sprinted through on a deft Geraghty kick to dive in under the posts while Ulster’s defence were on leave.
Paul Steinmetz did add a first-half injury-time try to a couple of Humphreys penalties, but it only flattered to deceive.
After huffing and puffing for most of the second half despite Irish having full-back Delon Armitage and wing Justin Bishop in the bin, it was fly-half Geraghty who virtually walked between Humphreys and Paddy Wallace for a third try. The embarrassing bonus point came from left-wing Sailosi Tagicakibau in injury time.
A late penalty by replacement fly-half Barry Everitt just added insult to injury for Ulster.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
