Northampton 32 Ulster 9
Ulster got off to the worst possible start to their Heineken Cup campaign with a disappointing 32-9 defeat to the 2000 European champions, Northampton, at Franklin's Gardens today.
Six penalties from former England fly-half Paul Grayson laid the foundations for the victory and he completed the demolition by converting late tries from Matt Dawson and John Leslie.
It gave Saints their first home victory over an Irish provincial team in the competition and maintained their unbeaten record at Franklin's Gardens this season.
Ulster fell foul of Italian referee Antonio Lombardi far too often and paid the price for their indiscretions.
Lombardi showed leniency in the sixth minute when he allowed Ulster centre Shane Stewart to escape a yellow card despite pulling back Leslie after Grayson had chipped through.
But the offence gave Grayson, who had led out Northampton to mark his 1,000th league point for the club last weekend, to kick his second penalty of the game.
They were cancelled out by David Humphreys, whose second penalty came when Saints flanker Budge Pountney felled visiting scrum-half Neil Doak with a high tackle.
But Northampton, with Pountney and Ben Cohen a threat cutting in from the left, held the upper hand and the pressure paid off as Ulster conceded more penalties.
Grayson capitalised with three kicks before half-time and Ulster were lucky to escape when the ball bounced to safety with prop Robbie Morris in the clear after charging down Humphreys' clearance.
Northampton had Andrew Blowers sin-binned for stamping at the start of the second half but, in his absence, Saints added to their score with Grayson kicking his sixth penalty.
Ulster suffered a further blow when Humphreys, who had been struggling with a leg injury, limped off in the 53rd minute after taking a big hit.
Frustration crept in when Pountney and Ulster's Kiwi hooker Matt Sexton were both lectured following a scuffle.
Ulster were restricted to long-range penalties but stand-in kicker Doak finally landed one at his third attempt to reduce the deficit to 18-9.
The referee ran out of patience with Ulster's infringements at the set-pieces when he sin-binned Rob Kempson in the 64th minute.
Northampton sealed victory in the 78th minute when scrum-half Matt Dawson ran unchallenged between the posts for a try after hooker Steve Thompson set up the impressive Pountney for another drive.
Grayson converted and he was successful again two minutes into injury time when Leslie pounced to touch down after Cunningham's kick was charged down behind the Ulster line.