Ulster set up Biarritz showdown
Tries in each half from Adam D’Arcy and Nevin Spence and a superb kicking display by fly-half Ian Humphreys, who booted 16 points, were enough to give the Irish side back-to-back victories over their West Country hosts, who are now all but out of the competition.
The win puts Ulster three points behind Biarritz at the top of the pool, but McLaughlin has warned his side they must return their attentions to their Magners League aspirations with a busy festive period on the horizon.
The match turned on a yellow card shown just after half-time to Springbok fly-half Butch James, making his first appearance in a Bath shirt since shoulder surgery in August.
It allowed Ulster, trailing by a point at half-time, to grab the initiative with Spence’s 56th-minute try. Man-of-the-match Humphreys slotted the touchline conversion and held Bath at bay with excellent place kicking while the home side could muster only a long-range try from Matt Banahan.
Ulster had been caught cold in the first minute when Jack Cuthbert hit up through the middle and Lee Mears was on hand to send Matt Carraro in at the corner for an unconverted try.
Stand-in skipper Michael Claassens should have added another on five minutes after charging down a Humphreys clearance but completely lost track of the ball which was then knocked on by Carraro.
Barkley soon added a penalty after Andrew Trimble was caught offside but Ulster hit back with a 10th-minute Adam D’Arcy try after the visitors tapped and a ran a free-kick and Diack provided his full-back with the scoring pass.
Humphreys converted but then needed treatment after a late ‘hit’ by James which escaped the officials’ attention. Ulster prop BJ Botha was not so fortunate after a high tackle on Claassens though and Barkley’s second penalty made it 11-7 to Bath.
Bath had failed to convert possession into points and Ruan Pienaar broke dangerously with Humphreys and the dangerous Trimble in support. Bath’s defence snuffed out the threat but only at the cost of a penalty which was landed by Humphreys from an acute angle to again cut the lead to a point.
James’ notoriously short fuse lasted just four minutes into the second half when he was sin-binned after a scuffle with Dan Touhy and Ulster took full advantage.
With Biarritz next up at Ravenhill in the New Year and then a trip to Italy to meet Aironi, Ulster are in a strong position to seize control of the group.
If they beat Biarritz and manage to take maximum points off the Italians, they will emerge group winners.
Despite Saturday’s win, McLaughlin was not overly impressed by his side’s performance.
“I didn’t think we played that well. Bath put us under ferocious pressure at times. We upped the intensity though and we cut our cloth a bit in the second half, playing a wee bit more the percentages. We knuckled down and knew what we had to do. If we had control we had a chance.
“I said to the players afterwards: ‘We’ve done nothing yet’. We’ve just got to keep winning.”
A Matt Carraro try and three Olly Barkley penalties had put Bath 14-13 up at the break, but a fine Matt Banahan try after the interval was not enough to prevent them from falling to defeat.
Bath coach Steve Meehan could not hide his frustration after seeing his men fail to capitalise on a winning position.
“It’s very frustrating. The Heineken Cup is a competition in which if you don’t play for the full 80 minutes, you’re not going to win your games,” he said.
BATH: Cuthbert, Carraro, Barkley, Hape, Banahan, James, Claassens, Flatman, Mears, Wilson, Hooper, Grewcock, Beattie, Moody, Taylor.
Replacements: Abendanon for Cuthbert (57), Barnes for Flatman (51), Fernandez Lobbe for Grewcock (57), Skirving for Beattie (57).
ULSTER: D’Arcy, Trimble, Spence, Wallace, Danielli, Humphreys, Pienaar, Court, Brady, Botha, Muller, Tuohy, Wannenburg, Faloon, Diack.
Replacements: McAllister for Court (70), Barker for Tuohy (57), Henry for Diack (57).
Referee: P Gauzere (France).
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