Stade End Ulster Championship Hope

Ulster are out of the Champions Cup despite Saturday’s hammering of Oyonnax after Leicester Tigers were beaten 36-21 away at Stade Francais.

Leicester had already secured top spot in Pool 4 after winning their opening five matches but were unable to make it six from six as Stade Francais claimed a bonus-point triumph in Paris which sealed the French side’s quarter-final berth as well.

England centre Tuilagi, in his third game since returning from his lengthy lay-off with a groin injury, lasted 50 minutes before being replaced as he continued his comeback and never looked out of place.

And it was the 24-year-old who opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a 35-metre dash to the posts for a try that was converted by Freddie Burns.

However, Stade Francais’ response was emphatic with the French champions running in three tries in the space of 10 minutes through Jules Plisson, Waisea Vuidarvuwalu and Rabah Slimani to establish a 19-7 lead at half-time.

The home side’s bonus point try, from their rampaging flanker Raphael Lakafia, came in the 53rd minute shortly after Leicester had lost their skipper and hooker Tom Youngs to the sin-bin for a midfield fracas with Slimani.

That try more or less ensured Stade — who had scored 26 unanswered points at that stage — would go into the quarter-final draw and meant Ulster were pushed out, resulting in no Irish province being in the last eight in the top tier of European rugby for the first time since 1998.

Leicester had no such concerns, as they were already assured of a home quarter-final before kick-off.

And the Tigers were good value for the lead given to them by Tuilagi’s score having totally dominated the opening 20 minutes.

But then the momentum shifted as Stade tightened their discipline as well as getting their off-loading game going.

Plisson, who finished the match with 16 points, got the home side on the scoreboard following good work by Jonathan Danty, and the fly-half converted his own try to make it 7-7.

Vuidarvuwalu then went over in the left corner on the overlap before prop Slimani powered over for another score soon after, Plisson adding the extras on that occasion having missed his previous conversion attempt to put Stade 12 points clear.

Plisson also converted the Lakafia score that brought up the crucial bonus point, but the Tigers then regrouped and hit back.

Dom Barrow used all of his 6ft 7in frame to touch down at full stretch for a try at the posts and there could have been another had the TMO not called up Sam Harrison’s inside pass as forward.

There was a third Leicester try from replacement hooker Harry Thacker to close the gap to eight points heading into the final four minutes, but an interception score from replacement centre Geoffrey Doumayrou gave the French side a final flourish as they progressed to the last eight as one of the best runners-up.

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Fans Protest as Western Sydney Win

Western Sydney extended their winning streak to five games thanks to a 2-0 win over Central Coast on Sunday, both goals coming after a section of Wanderers fans staged their predicted protest by walking out of the ground.

Nearly 1,000 members of the club’s active supporter group, the Red and Black Bloc, filed out of Central Coast Stadium at the 30-minute mark in protest against Football Federation Australia for what they perceive as poor handling of stadium bans.

Following the walkout, Mitch Nicholls set up Brendon Santalab’s opener and slotted the second to lift the Wanderers to second place on the A-League table and on equal points with leaders Melbourne Victory.

The clash at Central Coast Stadium was the first the side have won at the Gosford venue since their inaugural season in 2012-13.

This encounter will perhaps be remembered more for the protest, but for those of the 10,519 crowd that remained, it was attacking football at its frenetic best. And Tony Popovic’s men were a class above.

They very nearly opened their account in a frenzied first few minutes when Nicholls miskicked a long-ranged shot wide of an open goal while Mariners custodian Paul Izzo was caught way off his line.

Seven minutes later the playmaker almost atoned, bulging the back of the net before being ruled offside. The returning Romeo Castelen kept the momentum flowing by rattling the post, the ball almost comically rebounding and sailing straight into Izzo’s outstretched arms.

Castelen was a rampant force down the right flank as the Mariners’ back line toiled, but he undermined his own efforts by missing a swag of chances. In the end it was super sub Santalab who made good in the 66th minute, on his first shot and less than 10 minutes after his introduction.

Nicholls set the goal up gorgeously with a dink down the middle for the onrushing striker, who fought off a yellow-shirted defender before making no mistake against Izzo.

The Mariners took back a little of the possession they lost in the first half and made some bold moves on the counter-attack, including one late on when Irish striker Roy O’Donovan was denied by Wanderers keeper Andrew Redmayne in extra-time.

But a bare moment passed before Nicholls cemented the result, latching onto a Joshua Sotirio through ball to fire home.

The Wanderers’ five match winning run was the best since their 10-game streak in 2012-13.

Australia’s football faithful have been vocal and angry this week following News Corp Australia’s publication of names and photos of 198 banned A-League fans, of which nearly half were Wanderers supporters.

Not all Western Sydney fans left, with numerous bays still dotted with red and black shirts. Earlier in the match, the RBB held up banners stating their stance, one of which read: “FFA: Don’t bury your heads in the sand, we’ve listed our demands!”

A depleted Mariners Yellow Army also unfurled their own banner reading: “Sitting in silence like the FFA. No fans = no football.”

The RBB’s walkout followed an identical one from Melbourne Victory’s supporter group the North Terrace, who left Etihad Stadium after half an hour of Saturday night’s 2-1 win over Adelaide United.

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