It seeme like things couldn’t deteriorate for Ulster after last week’s 39-0 pounding away to Deal Sharks. At half-time, we were rethinking that hypothesis.
Down 29-0 and having surrendered in excess of 100 places – and scored only seven – in the past 160 minutes, Dan McFarland’s side looked absent any trace of certainty and lost in the tremendous vacancy of the Aviva Arena.
Their urgency had been summarized by frightful discipline, surrendering 11 punishments in the initial 40, five of which were kicke for focuses for Antoine Hastoy, while the out-half and Brice Dulin added a couple of attempts.
However, with the opposition structure how it is, each reward point counts, and subsequent to fixing their discipline up, they mobilized with goes after for Iain Henderson, John Cooney and Duane Vermeulen to get back inside 17 heading into the last quarter.
Tom Stewart polished off a lineout destroy on 73 minutes, which John Cooney switched over completely to make it 36-26, and the ‘has’ had something unmistakable to stick onto as an attempt reward point.
What’s more, with Cooney kicking a punishment with the last play of the game, it managed the scores to seven places, enough briefly reward point, and perhaps a glint of certainty to push them along over Christmas, and into two major Irish derbies in the following fortnight.
The initial minutes were overwhelme by the boot. The two sides exchanged contestable kicks until Ulster flickered first. Rory Sutherland wandered offside in midfield, permitting Hastoy to place La Rochelle 3-0 in front with a punishment on four minutes.
Hastoy multiplie the lead to 6-0 not long before the quarter-hour mark, his second punishment straight before the posts after Duane Vermeulen had been discovere pulling down a destroy.
No group had been punishe more than Ulster in cycle one and that unfortunate discipline was at that point saturating their presentation.
On 17 minutes, Hastoy opene his third punishment of the night to make it 9-0, preceding having one more opportunity from long reach two minute some other time when Henderson was punishe for not rolling ceaselessly. This time the 25-year-old’s radar was off, as he pushed his kick wide to one side.
Indeed, even at 9-0 behind, Ulster were on the ropes. To compound the situation, Billy Consumes was a physical issue takeoff soon after the quarter-hour, with Nathan Doak filling in as an improvised 10.
La Rochelle were on beginning to look agreeable, and when Ulster prostitute Stewart overcooke a lineout on 23 minutes, his contrary number Pierre Bourgarit got the free ball to run 40 meters down the pitch, and the scrambling safeguar hacke up another negative punishment, Hastoy obliging to make it 12-0, while Henderson was shippe off the transgression receptacle.
On the off chance that felt like the game was moving away from Ulster, and a couple of moments later it was beginning to feel like game over as La Rochelle got through for an attempt.
Hard, direct conveys from Jonathan Danty and Gregory Alldritt sucked the Ulster protection infield, before Hastoy dinked a grubber to the corner, Dulin coming out on top in the competition to plunge ready.
As Hastoy opened the change to make it 19-0, there were a little more than 10 minutes left in the half, and enough time for La Rochelle to put their foot on the choke.