Ulster swat Wasps at Kingspan

The European fear factor of the Kingspan Stadium may not be as severe as the once Fortress Ravenhill, but it nevertheless helped carry Ulster over the line against a stuttering Wasps side as Ulster got their Champions Cup Pool 1 campaign off to a winning start last night.

It wasn’t pretty, with errors galore from both sides. Wasps tried to park their recent dreadful Premiership form and return to their typically exciting European version of last season, but they failed miserably as Ulster stormed back with a tremendous second-half performance which was a bit reminisce of old.

With their big-hitters, Joe Launchbury, Nathan Hughes and play-maker Jimmy Gopperth, re-instated from a long injury list, Wasps buzzed around with intent, but not much else as their failure to score a try proved. The visitors were made to work very hard in a first half they dominated. With a very creaky scrum and a line-out that was a far cry from last season’s European rugby’s top statistic, Ulster were decidedly playing second fiddle in that period.