French giants too powerful as Ulster wilt
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 the Top 14 club made it a special day on their Champions Cup home debut as they ran in five tries to take firm control of Pool One with a maximum 10 points.
The home side led 13-10 at the break, but ran in four second half tries as they completely dominated the second 40 minutes.
Bowe’s consolation score took him level with Dafydd James on 29 tournament tries behind Chris Ashton (37), Vincent Clerc (36) and Brian O’Driscoll (32).
Bowe said afterwards: ‘It was very frustrating, especially the second half. They were the best we’ve played this season. We felt at halftime the game was there for us but the second half didn’t go the way we wanted.
‘We knew it was going to be a hostile environment 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 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. Their size put us under so much pressure and they finished every chance they got. Our strength is playing expansive rugby, but we couldn’t get enough ball. We didn’t give a full account of how good we can be.’
Ulster have back-to-back games against Harlequins in December, but this weekend they have to meet Leinster in the Pro14.
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.
‘There are a few battered and bruised bodies... it will be a long journey home.’
Earlier, a brilliant wrap-around move involving Christian Lealiifano gave Bowe room on the left wing and his inside pass allowed Lealiifano to cross for a try. He converted and kicked a penalty to put Ulster 10-7 up after 15 minutes.
That was it until the 69th minute when Bowe raced onto a chip through by Charles Piutau. It was a miserable afternoon for Ulster, whose wing Andrew Trimble set his province’s most capped player record in his 222nd game.