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Heineken Cup: Ulster 9 Northampton 10

by

John McMurtry

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The Ulster bandwagon came to a shuddering halt last night with a resolute Northampton a substantial enough obstacle to knock the wheels off.

I suspect this result will have upset more of the supporters than the actual team, who will obviously be disappointed, but a return of 6 points from their nearest pool rivals is a solid enough return and should still be enough for Ulster to top the group.

A wounded animal is always dangerous but I had expected Ulster to have the resolve to win this one and, while they did play the better rugby, the home side just made too many mistakes, albeit under pressure, to pull this one off.

Northampton knew they needed a good start and they certainly took it to Ulster in the opening exchanges. An early Myler penalty was followed up with a van Velze try and Myler conversion to put the visitors in the box seat with a 0 – 10 lead after 20 minutes.

Ulster worked hard to get back into the game but despite creating several chances they could only convert two Jackson penalties before the break.  However with the score at 6 – 1o as the teams left the pitch I had . . .

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5 responses to “Heineken Cup: Ulster 9 Northampton 10”

  1. Jim Maxwell

    Given that we were having an off night, (errors galore) to hold the Saints to a single point defeat was some sort of a result. Paddy Jackson was tackled without the ball which led to their try. However they definitely were a different team and deserved the win. Hopefully this will shrpen the focus for the Leinster match. Best wishes to Tommy Bowe. A win against Leinster would lift his spirits. C’mon Ulster!

    Reply
  2. Radz

    A frustrating hiccup, but we lost by 1 point against a very reputable team who we hurt deeply. They did their homework well and with a few key replacements had us on the ropes. while the game was a calamity of errors in attack I’m still incredibly proud of the fact we held firm in the defence 60 minutes with no score is a massive positive, we had them for four in Franklins which they couldn’t muster in Ravers. Regardless of the result I hope T.Bowe recovers well it looked horrific in slow motion!

    Cannot wait for Leinster next week that will have to be a statement game if we want to come out of their shadow!

    Reply
  3. CC_147

    Re watched match today on Sky plus and have to agree the the Saints deserved the win. We just did not take our chances and there were a few. It was the same for Glasgow this afternoon. Still at the top of the pool and top of the Rabo! #BELIEVE!!!!!

    Reply
  4. mark

    While it was frustrating, Northampton deserved their win, they upped the intensity from a week previous while Ulster’s dropped and this ultimately resulted in a defeat that and the failure to have a reliable back up for John Afoa….

    Reply
  5. Carol Walsh on Facebook

    It was frustrating, I think I felt more disappointed than I did at the final last year. It was there for us. However, still top of our pool, top of the Rabo and looking forward to the Leinster…SUFTUM!

    Reply

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