Scintillating second-half effort boosts Ulster’s quarter-final hopes
ULSTER gave their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals of Europe a massive boost as they hit Harlequins for six at Kingspan Stadium in a 5224 bonus-point win.
After grinding out a tough win in the London snow a week previous, this was a completely different kind of game from Les Kiss’s side, who produced a scintillating second-half performance to tear their much-changed visitors apart.
Five second-half tries secured what could be a vital bonus point come the conclusion of the campaign, although concerns will lie after another questionable defensive showing, as well as the departures of Charles Piutau and Jacob Stockdale to apparent injuries.
’Quins’ loss of influential trio Joe Marler, Chris Robshaw and Danny Care was felt early as Ulster raced into a 6-0 lead after just nine minutes, John Cooney landing two penalties as the hosts looked to put the game beyond doubt early.
However the visitors, not shackled by the pressure of qualification, had other plans, and struck back six minutes later when teen sensation Marcus Smith went around Cooney and set down in the corner.
It needed an immediate response from Ulster, and they got it.
Christian Leali’ifano’s pinpoint cross-field kick had Ross Chisholm caught in two minds and as he dallied over the ball, Stuart McCloskey raced onto it and hacked through before touching down at the dead-ball line.
Cooney converted from the touchline before ’Quins came back with fervour.
Jamie Roberts did the damage he failed to do last week in midfield and it took Ulster’s best scrambling efforts to deny Charlie Walker in the corner.
Smith was the creator, making the initial break and then passing inside for Walker, who showed blistering pace to score under the posts.
A conversion and penalty from Cooney had Ulster ahead at the break, albeit somewhat unconvincingly, but Craig Gilroy’s score just after the restart settled any nerves at Kingspan Stadium.
Stockdale made the initial break, taking it into the ’Quins red zone and, a few phases later, Louis Ludik made the second surge for the line that Gilroy was able to carry on over the line in the corner.
That calmed things down, especially when Cooney slotted the conversion and then added another penalty to keep the score ticking over.
Then came their third
try, Stockdale again the driving force behind the initial break, his flick inside to Gilroy sending him just short of the line, but Piutau was on hand to dive over at the line as the supporting runner.
Harlequins did fire a reminder back Ulster’s way as they went quickly from the restart and they were rewarded with a third try of their own through Chisholm, but all hopes of an English comeback died when Kyle Sinckler put in a late shot, earning him a yellow card, and moments later Alan O’Connor powered over.
Back came ’Quins again, however, Dave Ward scampering over for their fourth after taking advantage of some shoddy defending around the edges of the ruck by Ulster, but the night belonged to the hosts, who sealed it with two more scores.
The first came from Cooney, who took an offload from the rampaging McCloskey and shrugged off a challenge to cross under the posts, before Andrew Trimble put the icing on the cake with a last-minute score off a scrum.
ULSTER RUGBY – C Piutau (A Trimble 60); C Gilroy (P Marshall 76), L Ludik, S McCloskey, J Stockdale (Peter Nelson 65); C Leali’ifano, J Cooney; C Black (A Warwick 40), R Herring (J Andrew 53), W Herbst (R Kane 40); A O’Connor, K Treadwell (M Rea 68); I Henderson, C Henry, N Timoney (S Reidy 55).
HARLEQUINS – R Chisholm; C Walker, W Stanley, J Roberts, A Alofa; M Smith (M Brown 76), I Prior; L Boyce (M Lambert 59), E Elia (C Piper 69), K Sinckler (P Swainston 70); G Merrick (D Lamb 69), C Matthews; A White, D Ward, R Bothma (M Luamanu 55).
REF – A Ruiz (France).