Ulster blown away by dominant Montpellier in Challenge Cup final
Montpellier scored nine tries in the Challenge Cup final against Ulster. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie
Ulster’s hopes of claiming a first trophy in 20 years – and a place in next season’s Champions Cup - evaporated on a steamy night in Bilbao as a brilliant and physically dominant Montpellier side stormed its way to a third Challenge Cup title inside a decade.
Falling short at this last hurdle guarantees Connacht’s place in next year’s top-tier ‘European’ event after their eighth-place finish in the league, so this wasn’t a terrible night for everyone in Irish rugby.
Ulster's season is done. They will rue how their campaign petered out after such a positive start, but progress has clearly been made, even if that will have been no consolation as they flew home soon after this final whistle.
As for Montpellier, expect more from these boys going forward.
The French ended up with nine tries in front of a 43,204 crowd that included Leinster head coach Leo Cullen. He will hope there is no repeat of ‘La Marseillaise’, delivered here with real gusto in the stands, when they face Bordeaux-Begles on Saturday afternoon.
Boil it all down and this was a match-up of the second-best side in the Top 14 and a team that had finished ninth in the URC. Ulster are not a bad team. They managed four tries of their own here, but this was a level beyond them at this stage in their cycle.
All the talk in Bilbao in the hours before the game was of the weather. It was still touching 30 degrees by kick-off, a dead type of suffocating heat that felt like it was trapped inside the vast expanse of the spectacular San Mames.
That inevitably affected the tie as it unfolded with handling errors sprinkled through the 80 despite some excellent interplay by both sides at times. What that meant was a fair few scrums: not something Ulster needed when giving away 42kg to the rival pack.
They were hindered in other ways.
The absences of Iain Henderson through suspension and the injured trio of Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale and Rob Herring wasn’t an inspiring starting point for a side that had struggled for wins the longer the season went on.
If that all left them up against it then they managed to start brilliantly with Juarno Augustus and Dave Mcann bursts setting fellow back row Nick Timoney up to make the last few inches for the first try after just four minutes.
Cormac Izuchukwu’s bullocking run finished off another brilliant move just before the half-hour but the problems were already mounting with the province conceding seven points at the other end within minutes of both their thrusts.
Gabriel N’Gandebele and Billy Vunipola claimed that pair and the sense of an Ulster side making life hard for themselves extended to a try in between from Donovan Taofifuena after the Irish side botched a lineout on their own five-metre line.
With out-half Domingo Miotti slotting over all three two-pointers it left Montpellier 21-12 to the good. That lead lengthened before the break with openside Alexandre Becognee touching down after a lineout maul sourced from some tardy backtracking by Zac Ward.
Frustrating. No doubt about it.
Montpellier are known for their size, their structure and their defence but they were cutting Ulster to shreds out wide whenever they got their hands on the ball. It was hard to see a positive outcome at the break given all that and the punishing temperatures.
Hard turned to impossible within just ten minutes of the restart with Taofifuena and captain Lenni Nouchi adding the fifth and sixth tries to take the score from 26-12 out to 40-12. The rest of the night wasn’t much more than a ticking of boxes.
Ulster’s body language told its own tale as they trudged forward for yet another restart but Robert Baloucoune and Mike Lowry did manage another two scores in response. Montpellier hardly blinked in adding another three of their own.
T Banks; G N'Gandebe, A Vincent, A Cadot, D Taofifenua; D Miotti, A Price; E Forletta, J Uelese, M Haouas; F Verhaeghe, T DuGuid; L Nouchi, A Becognee, B Vunipola.
A Beard for Verhaeghe and M Tauleigne for Vunipola both (53); L Coly for Miotti (55); W Hounkpatin for Haouas, B Erdocio for Forletta and L Akrab for Uelese (all 57); J Echegaray for Banks (57); T Darmon for Cadot (66).
M Lowry; R Baloucoune, J Hume, J Postlethwaite, Z Ward, J Murphy, N Doak; A Bell, T Stewart, T O'Toole, H Sheridan, C Izuchukwu; D McCann, N Timoney, J Augustus.
E O’Sullivan for Bell and S Wilson for O’Toole (both 53); E McIlroy for Postlethwaite (57); B Ward for Augustus (58); C Irvine for Sheridan (61); C McKee for Doak and J Flannery for Murphy (both 65); J McCormick for Stewart (76).
M Carley (Eng).
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