Stade Francais - 13 Ulster - 10:European Cup: It seems the knock-out phases of the European Cup will remain forever elusive for Ulster coach Alan Solomons, as speculation mounts about his future.
The last hopes of a quarter-final place were quashed on Saturday evening, when Leicester Tigers emerged from Gwent Dragons with a bonus-point win to top Pool One with 15 points.
Even if Leicester were to lose at home to Stade Francais next Friday and Ulster were to take five points from the visit of Gwent to Ravenhill, Leicester would edge out Ulster by virtue of the points difference in the matches between the two sides.
Given the body blows all sides have dished out to each other in this pool, there is no hope of the second-placed side claiming one of the two runners-up places on offer.
So for Ulster, the visit of Gwent to a sold-out Ravenhill will prove something of a damp squib.
Ulster have made a decent fist of survival in the toughest pool in the tournament, but ultimately they will see their campaign as one of missed opportunities.
In the past two seasons under Solomons, they managed four wins from six, only to be edged out on try count both times.
The best return for this season will be three victories from six, but given that their wins included the scalps of Stade and Leicester, it seemed that for the first time since they were crowned champions in 1999 they might claim a place in the last eight.
Opportunity knocked on Saturday and while Solomons was rightly proud of the massively-improved effort after the rout at Welford Road, there was frustration that having pushed Stade so close, the job was not finished off.
The visitors led 10-7 approaching the hour mark and a tremendous defensive display had frustrated Stade's attacking endeavours.
But when a gilt-edged try-scoring opportunity was blown following a turnover in the Stade 22, the home side regained composure and drew level with a Diego Dominguez penalty when Ulster were penalised on their own put-in to a scrum.
Then, when substitute flanker Neil Best was harshly penalised for a high tackle in front of the posts, Dominguez put his side in front for the first time with just 12 minutes left of normal time.
There was more drama when Humphreys narrowly missed a 45-metre penalty, and Stade were then able to force Ulster to attack from too deep in a frantic finale.
"My reaction is one of immense disappointment because I felt a draw would have been a fair reflection of the match," said Solomons, who has been linked with a move to Northampton at the end of the season.
"I know they had a fair amount of possession and territory but we produced an enormous display and our defence was superb.
"I am disappointed because we deserved a draw out of this game. David (Humphreys) hit the ball beautifully and nine times out of 10 that would have gone over."
Ulster had gone into the interval with a three-point advantage thanks to a moment of magic by Humphreys, who charged down a Brian Liebenberg kick, gathered and outpaced Christophe Dominici from 60 metres out before adding the conversion.
Stade quickly responded, with a converted by Sylvain Marconnet from a driving maul, but a Humphreys penalty and some desperate defending kept Stade at arm's length, though Remi Martin was unlucky not to be awarded a try at the end of the first half when adjudged to have been held up over the line.
Dominguez ensured, though, that it mattered little at the death.
Scoring sequence - 12 mins: Humphreys try, con, 0-7; 15: Marconnet try, Dominguez con, 7-7; 25: Humphreys pen, 7-10; 54: Dominguez pen, 10-10; 68: Dominguez pen, 13-10;
STADE FRANCAIS: I Corleto; T Lombard, J Hernandez, B Liebenberg, C Dominici; D Dominguez, G Mahe; S Marconnet, B August, P De Villiers, P Tabacco, A Marchois, C Moni, R Martin, P Rabadan. Replacement: D Skrela for Liebenberg (65).
ULSTER: B Cunningham; J Topping, S Mallon, P Steinmetz, T Howe; D Humphreys, N Doak; R Kempson, P Shields, R Moore, M McCullough, G Longwell, A Ward, N McMillan, R Wilson. Replacements: A Larkin for Topping (61); M Mustchin for Longwell (64), N Best for N McMillan (64), S Best for R Moore (66). Sin-binned: Marchois (Stade Francais), Ward (Ulster).
Referee: C White (England)
