Ulster 19 Stade Francais 16
Ulster pulled out a rugby miracle in front of 13,000 ecstatic fans at Ravenhill in Belfast when international wing Tyrone Howe scored a try five minutes into injury time to keep alive another Heineken European Cup dream.
Stade looked to have sealed the win but intense Ulster pressure as the final minutes ticked by resulted in a series of penalties.
The last and most important was taken quickly by scrum half Neil Doak and the ball passed through the hands of David Humphreys and centre Paddy Wallace on its way to Howe who out-paced French scrum half Fabien Galthie to the corner. Wallace converted but that did not really matter.
It was a deja vu experience for the French side that had been beaten at the same venue in the semi-final three seasons ago when Ulster went on to European glory.
Ulster had the first opportunity to put points on the board in the opening minute but Irish international fly-half Humphreys, returning to the line-up after missing the game between the two sides last weekend, pulled his penalty wide of the post.
Stade thought they had scored the opening try after 11 minutes when Franck Comba picked up a loose ball and raced over but Welsh referee Nigel Whitehouse had already called the play back for a penalty to the French side. Diego Dominguez slotted over the three points via the right upright.
Just a minute later, however, Humphreys levelled matters after the French infringed at the restart and then a 40m-penalty by Humphreys extended Ulster's lead to 6-3 after 23 minutes but Stade scored the opening try nine minutes later.
They won their line-out ball inside the Ulster 22 and the home team could not stop the forwards' drive. Eventually the ball was released for lock Mike James to pop over in the corner.
Dominguez missed the conversion and another Humphreys penalty before the interval gave Ulster a slender one-point lead.
Dominguez missed an early penalty in the second half but was on target after 45 minutes to regain the lead for Stade after the powerful French pack had disrupted another Ulster scrum.
Ulster then had a period of pressure, although Stade's defence was superb and Paddy Wallace, taking over the kicking duties from Humphreys, missed a chance to put the home side back into the lead.
The French side scored their second try after 62 minutes. They destroyed another Ulster scrum and a little chip from Dominguez behind the Ulster cover bounced perfectly for full-back Sylvain Jonnet to race over and score. Dominguez missed the two points but Stade led 16-9 going into the final quarter.
Ulster were rewarded six minutes from the end after an excellent passage of play with a penalty in front of the posts kicked by Wallace but it all looked in vain until a moment of magic from Howe.
PA