Bowe: Bruised Ulster ‘made it easy’ for French giants
IT was another fruitless trip to France for Ulster yesterday as a second-half onslaught from La Rochelle saw the Stade Marcel Deflandre’s first ever Champions Cup contest end firmly in the hosts’ favour.
Against the hugely impressive outfit from France’s Atlantic coast, Ulster trailed by only three at half-time but, having shipped just one try in the first 40, four more would follow in the secondhalf, including a dizzying spell of three in just seven minutes.
The 5-0 distribution of match points sees Les Kiss’s men cut adrift of yesterday’s hosts in Pool 1, and now needing a strong return from their remaining four games.
Tommy Bowe moved into joint fourth place on European rugby’s all-time try-scoring lists – but that was about as good as it got for Ulster.
Bowe scored his 29th touchdown in his 65th European Cup outing – but there was little else for the visitors to cheer.
He joins Dafydd James on 29 tournament tries in equal fourth behind Chris Ashton (37), Vincent Clerc (36) and Brian O’Driscoll (32).
HOSTILE
Bowe said: “It was very frustrating, especially the second half. We had to absorb so much pressure and they were the best side we’ve played this season. We felt at half-time the game was there for us but unfortunately the second half didn’t go the way we wanted.
“We knew it was going to be a hostile environment out there and that they are playing some great rugby. In the first half we took it to them and a few small errors by us let them in for a try.
“At times we showed what we wanted to do, but in the second half the pressure they put on us meant we had to defend and defend and defend.”
The 33-year-old Ireland wing continued: “We made a few errors and made it easy for them – and their quality shone through. Their size put us under so much pressure and they finished every chance they got.
“The relentless pressure they put us under meant we couldn’t get our hands on the ball. Our strength is playing expansive rugby, but we couldn’t get enough ball.
“When we did, we scored two tries, but we didn’t give a full account of how good we can be.”
Having taken only three minutes to run in their first try at Harlequins in the opening round of games, La Rochelle were on the board after four minutes this time. Jeremy Sinzelle raced in from 40 metres after a long midfield pass from Ulster went to ground and was picked up by Ryan Lamb.
A brilliant wrap-around move involving Ulster’s Australian international outside-half Christian Leali’ifano gave Bowe room on the left wing and his inside pass allowed Leali’ifano to cross for a try that he also converted. He then kicked a penalty to give Ulster a 10-7 lead after 15 minutes.
Two penalties in the second quarter by scrum-half Alexi Bales edged the home side into their narrow interval lead, and after that they made it a miserable afternoon for Ulster wing Andrew Trimble, who became his province’s most capped player with his 222nd appearance.
Ulster lost Leali’ifano eight minutes into the second half and the first of the four tries run in by the home side in the final 40 minutes came when his replacement, John Cooney, cleared to the La Rochelle 10-metre line. But Cooney fatally missed touch and Victor Vito crossed as the hosts capitalised.
Three tries in the space of seven minutes after the hour mark then demonstrated the dominance of the French side. Flanker Kevin Gourdon powered over from five metres, centre Pierre Aguillon was put in at the left corner by Vito and then the former All Blacks flanker sent skipper Jason Eaton over in the same corner on the narrow side of another ruck in the Ulster ‘22’.
Bales converted the first of the three and then his replacement, Jean-Victor Goillot, added two superb touchline kicks to complete the home scoring.
Ulster finished with a consolation try for Bowe after he raced onto a chip-through by Charles Piutau.
Ulster now have back-to-back games against Harlequins in December, but before then they have to meet Leinster in the Guinness PRO14 next weekend.
Bowe added: “We didn’t give a full show of what we wanted to in La Rochelle and now we have to bounce back against Leinster.
CRUCIAL
“We were delighted with the result against Wasps and we wanted to come away and pick up something. That’s crucial in this competition.
“We are still confident that with Harlequins back-to-back in December we can do something in this pool.
“There are a few battered and bruised bodies after playing against some huge La Rochelle players and it will be a long journey home.”