Showing posts with label Pieter-Steph du Toit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pieter-Steph du Toit. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 December 2015

Toulouse 23 - Ulster 25


Ulster kept their hopes of Champions Cup quarter-final qualification alive by completing back-to-back victories over Toulouse with a 25-23 success.

A Ruan Pienaar try helped the visitors to a 10-3 half-time lead and Andrew Trimble and Luke Marshall added second-half touchdowns for the Irish province.

Gael Fickou crossed for Toulouse, with Louis Picamoles adding a late try.

Ulster lie second in Pool One, 10 points behind Saracens, with a game in hand, but Toulouse's hopes have ended.

With two matches against bottom side Oyannax still to come, Les Kiss' side retain realistic hope of making the last eight by finishing at least second in their pool.

Having triumphed 38-0 in Belfast a week ago, Ulster began the game at the Ernest-Wallon Stadium in confident fashion and Paddy Jackson landed a third-minute penalty to give his team an early lead.

Ulster continued to enjoy territorial dominance but Pienaar and Jackson were off-target with long-range penalty attempts.

Just after the half-hour mark, Pienaar picked up and dived over the ruck to score the opening try under the posts, following a rolling maul that set up the score.

Jackson converted but three minutes later was sent to the bin when his deliberate knock-on denied the hosts a likely try-scoring opportunity.

Just before the break, replacement Rory Scholes touched down for Ulster but his 'try' was chalked off for an earlier forward pass.

Sebastien Bezy's penalty after the interval reduced the deficit, but Trimble's 45th-minute try, his 24th in the competition, put his side in control again.

Centre Stuart McCloskey broke through the Toulouse defence and Pienaar and Franco van der Merwe played their part in a slick passing manoeuvre, before Trimble stretched to touch down in the corner.

Fickou's try completed a flowing Toulouse move in the 51st minute, Bezy's conversion reduced the home side's deficit to two points and the scrum-half then kicked a penalty to nudge Toulouse in front.

Jackson replied with his second penalty and then helped set up Marshall, who collected an inside pass from Alan O'Connor, before crossing for the ultimately decisive try.

The fly half converted to put nine points between the sides but the four-time champions responded with a late try by French international Picamoles to reduce the winning margin to two points and clinch a bonus point.

Picamoles, the back-row replacement, rumbled over for a try following a maul as Ulster's hitherto reliable defences were breached, with Jean-Marc Doussain adding the additional points.

For Ulster, this was only their third-ever success on French soil while Toulouse have suffered their worst start to a European campaign since 2003.

The Irish province now face important Pro12 assignments against Connacht and Munster, while Toulouse take on fellow Top 14 title challengers Toulon and Stade Francais in their next domestic encounters.

Toulouse: 
Alexis Palisson; Kunatani Kunabuli, Gael Fickou, Florian Fritz, Timoci Matanavou; Jean-Marc Doussain, Sébastien Bézy; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Census Johnston, Gregory Lamboley, Yoann Maestri, Yacouba Camara, Thierry Dusautoir, Imanol Harinordoquy
Replacements: Christopher Tolofua, Gurthro Steenkamp, Gert Muller, Joe Tekori, Louis Picamoles, Gillian Galan, David Mele, Clément Poitrenaud

Ulster: 
Louis Ludik; Andrew Trimble, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Craig Gilroy; Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar; Kyle McCall, Rory Best, Wiehahn Herbst; Alan O'Connor, Franco van der Merwe; Robbie Diack, Sean Reidy, Roger Wilson.
Replacements: Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Ricky Lutton, Lewis Stevenson, Nick Williams, Paul Marshall, Ian Humphreys, Rory Scholes.


Saturday, 12 December 2015

Five Tries for Ulster Over Toulouse


Ulster scored a remarkable five-try 38-0 victory over Toulouse in the European Champions Cup at Ravenhill.

Nick Williams crossed in the 23rd minute and Andrew Trimble then scored a brilliant individual try to increase Ulster's lead to 17-0 at the break.

Man of the match Ruan Pienaar set up a Luke Marshall score after half-time with a brilliant cross field kick.

Stuart McCloskey and Chris Henry also crossed as Toulouse failed to score in a European game for the first time.

Ulster went into the game knowing that a second home defeat in Pool 1 could have effectively ended their hopes of making the knockout stages but this bonus-point win reignites their aspirations after this brilliant display.

After losing their opening Pool 1 fixture at home to Saracens, Ulster were a transformed with South African scrum-half Ruan Pienaar playing a crucial, match-winning role.

It was Ulster's fourth win in their last five home matches against Toulouse in Belfast and the defeat also means Toulouse have lost two of their opening three games in the tournament.

Ulster were boosted at the start by the return of hooker Rory Best to captain the side while Toulouse lost winger Maxime Medard in the warm-up and influential No 8 Louis Picamoles with a shoulder injury early in the first half.

The Irish side were on the scoreboard after 23 minutes when giant Kiwi No 8 Nick Williams barrelled over despite the presence of two defenders after Franco van der Merwe had created the opening.

Paddy Jackson added the extras just before Toulouse had their first player sin-binned, Sebastien Bezy getting the yellow-card for an infringement at the ruck. Jackson popped over the resulting penalty for 10-0.

At the other end, Toby Flood missed a second penalty of the half but at least had the consolation of seeing Ulster reduced to 14 men when Williams was shown a yellow card.

Two minutes from the interval, Ulster were 17-0 ahead when Pienaar recovered from a crude trip by Yacouba Camara to feed Andrew Trimble before the winger chipped ahead to catch his own kick for the score.

Jackson was deadly accurate with another conversion. Pienaar was the inspiration again when Ulster grabbed a third try.

His smart cross-field punt left a stretched Toulouse defence flat-footed, allowing centre Luke Marshall to score.

Despite being tight to the touchline, Jackson slotted over the conversion for 24-0.

Toulouse were shellshocked and Stuart McCloskey slalomed over for the bonus-point fourth try with a more comfortable conversion following for Jackson with still more than 20 minutes to play.

Van der Merwe added the fifth try from a driving maul with replacement kicker Ian Humphreys hitting the extras from a difficult angle for 38-0.

The two sides meet again in France next weekend.