Ulster squeeze to victory over error-prone Bath
THE stadium announcer greeted Bath’s ‘World Cup heroes’ before kick-off but, by the final whistle, they must have wished they were back in Japan.
Returning to club action a fortnight after the final in Yokohama was always going to be a big ask – and the cast of England players were unable to deliver an all-important home victory.
Errors undermined the hosts’ attacking platforms as Ulster capitalised with two turnover tries to seize the upper hand in Pool 3.
Ulster took the lead after 14 minutes when John Cooney charged down Will Chudley’s kick and ran from his own half to score.
Be it missed kicks, knock-ons or set-piece turnovers, Bath were too often the masters of their own downfall. New campaign, familiar mistakes. They are still searching for a 9-10 combination with the look of European contenders.
Jonathan Joseph and Ruaridh McConnochie had limited opportunities early on as Bath attempted to build a narrow attack around Jamie Roberts’ ball carrying.
It lacked craft and guile and was matched by a resilient Ulster defence, whose three Irish internationals have had an additional fortnight to recover from the World Cup.
There were moments of magic from Semesa Rokoduguni, but the winger gave away the ball in attack as Ulster countered for their second try in the 58th minute.
With Freddie Burns and McConnochie both down injured, Will Addison spotted space down the right wing and Rob Lyttle chased his kick through to score.
Ulster could have been further ahead, but Cooney missed a simple penalty and knocked on with the try line begging, following a missed tackle by Sam Underhill.
Against Northampton last week, Bath built a victory off the scrum but here they were unable to rediscover their set-piece dominance.
It summed up the inconsistency of a side whose record so far this season has a perfect symmetry: lost, won, lost, won, lost, won, lost, won, lost. If anything, at least, such a record bodes well for next week’s game against Harlequins.
There was a second-half resurgence, but Bath were unable to see it through.
Teenage winger Gabriel Hamer-Webb, who was still playing for his school team last year, came off the bench to score a fizzing try, before Rhys Priestland kicked the hosts ahead after 67 minutes.
But Cooney made a swift riposte, kicking Ulster back in front after Bath infringed at the lineout.
Bath had their chances late on, but Marcel Coetzee beat Underhill to the breakdown to win a penalty, before Jacob Stockdale intercepted Zach Mercer’s forced pass in the final play.
Ulster now look forward to a big Friday night in Belfast next week when they welcome Clermont
Auvergne to Ravenhill.
‘It’s a huge challenge,’ said head coach Dan McFarland. ‘We all understand that. It
will be a great occasion. Kingspan Ravenhill is a great place to play in against French teams. Our evening against Racing 92 last year was a special occasion. The players relish that – the fans relish that.’
One obvious concern ahead of the clash with Clermont is that Bath enjoyed two-thirds of the possession.
‘If we give Clermont that much ball they will torture us,’ said McFarland. ‘Bath stuck it to us and were really physical. We had to match them set-piece-wise and we did that. Defensively, we did a good job there, and we got two tries from turnover ball. That was really pleasing.
‘Today was about team effort. Although we nearly beat ourselves at the end, we dogged it out. We had to work so hard in defence to stay in it.
‘We had to have a better focus in the second half not to give away silly penalties.’
BATH: F Burns (C Cook 61); S Rokoduguni, JJoseph, J Roberts (M Wright 76), R McConnochie (G Hamer-Webb 58); R Priestland, W Chudley: B Obano (J Walker 48), TDunn (J Walker 76), W Stuart (C Judge 58); J McNally (E Stooke 58), C Ewels (capt); M Williams (J Bayliss 38), S Underhill, Z Mercer. scOrers: Try: Hamer-Webb cOnversiOn: Burns penAlTies: Burns [2], Priestland ulsTer: W Addison; R Lyttle (L Ludik 63), L Marshall, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns (A Curtis 59), J Cooney; J McGrath (E O’Sullivan 8), R Herring, M Moore (T O’Toole 63); I Henderson (capt), S Carter (A O’Connor 26); M Rea (S Reidy 51), J Murphy, M Coetzee. scOrers: Tries: Cooney, Lyttle cOnversiOns: Cooney [2] penAlTies: Cooney referee: Marius Mitrea [ITA]