Ulster Rugby vs Bath

shot in the arm on 22 minutes when Parra saw yellow for intentional offside with the visitors only metres from the line. Burns went for touch but an overthrow at the lineout put paid to any hopes of an immediate score, although an intentional slap-down from Fritz Lee soon gave them a second chance – until tenacious tackling from the hosts dragged Stockdale into touch. As Clermont began to find their feet on the half-hour mark, Baloucoune gave another illustration of his defensive prowess when his last-gasp tackle on Moala prevented a nailed-on try by the right-hand corner flag, and the hosts, with Parra now back in the ranks, had to settle for a second penalty from their scrum-half on the stroke of half-time to reduce the gap to a point. HALF-TIME SCORE ASM Clermont Auvergne 9 Ulster 10 An early second half penalty from Parra missed its target, but with Clermont proving more and more dominant at scrum-time, their first try was not long in coming, Raka only just brushing the whitewash with the ball and no more after pilediving work from Moala. Parra converted. With Tom O’Toole and Matt Faddes now in the ranks, replacing Marty Moore and Will Addion, Ulster slowed things down for a good five minutes before a Clermont offside won them a ‘22’ lineout. With a rolling maul eschewed in favour of swift passing from right to left, the visitors probed and prodded at the Clermont rear-guard, eventually forcing an offside penalty on 63 minutes which Cooney dispatched. Now only three points adrift, Ulster conceded a central penalty of their own, which Parra gratefully put away. Multiple changes saw Kieran Treadwell, Matthew Rea, David Shanahan and Bill Johnston come on for the final ten minutes, but another penalty at scrum-time allowed Greig Laidlaw – recently on for Parra – to

edge Ulster out of losing bonus point territory with eight minutes left. Moala, impressive throughout, rubbed further salt in the wounds with three minutes remaining, powering his way through Shanahan and Stockdale to the line, his score converted by Laidlaw. There was still time for Ulster to launch one final offensive, brought to an end by a huge tackle on Marshall in the ‘22’ that caused the centre to knock on. Ulster return to Belfast down but not out, knowing that a win over Bath will seal a place in the last eight as one of the top three runners-up – or perhaps as group winners should Harlequins do them a favour in London. FULL-TIME SCORE ASM Clermont Auvergne 29 Ulster 13

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