HEINEKEN CUP: Ulster 21 Harlequins 10 Attendance 8,000IF THE appalling conditions at Ravenhill on Saturday could not dampen the spirits of a resurgent Ulster side, their victory over Harlequins came at a price that will concern Ireland coach Declan Kidney.
Paddy Wallace, whose impressive form has been one of the key planks of Ulster’s upturn in fortunes, suffered a head injury which forced him to retire at half-time and the centre is now a major doubt for the trip to Stade Français next weekend.
The 29-year-old, who suffered a similar injury last November when he was knocked out in the first minute of Ulster’s Magners League victory over Connacht, will see a neurologist this week to determine the extent of the problem.
Wallace’s dazzling performances recently at inside centre, where his distribution and quick feet are now enhanced with a robust defence, had shot him into contention for a place in the Ireland midfield as well as providing cover for Ronan O’Gara at outhalf. But with Ireland’s Six Nations campaign kicking off in just under three weeks, Wallace’s injury will be a concern to Kidney.
Otherwise it proved to be another hugely productive afternoon for Matt Williams’s men, who backed up their heroics against Munster by inflicting a first defeat on Harlequins in Pool Four, to keep Dean Richards’s side waiting to clinch their place in the last eight and most likely denied the Londoners the advantage of a home draw.
“I am incredibly proud of the boys, it was an incredible effort in awful conditions,” said Williams. “The really had to dig deep and show they had what it takes to beat a top side. Sometimes when this team receive praise they take their eye off the ball a little but we need to show them tough love.
“If we are ever going to progress in Europe we need to know we can beat the big Premiership sides and also win in France.
“Hopefully that will come sooner rather than later but we need to follow this win up with another performance next Saturday.
“It makes last week (Magners League defeat to Edinburgh) more frustrating, we wanted to show all our supporters and people back in Ulster that what we did in Limerick wasn’t a fluke.
“We adapted well to the conditions and showed a lot of courage. At half-time we spoke about defending the lead in the second half and needed to attack the lead.
“We had to monopolise the ball and when they had it they just couldn’t get near us.
“It was all credit to our bench as both Paul Steinmetz and Matt McCullough had great impacts.”
Darren Cave, who must have come under Kidney’s radar with another impressive display, scorched over for a try in the first half after good work by Wallace and a conversion and three penalties by Ian Humphreys had established a 16-point lead at the break in awful and deteriorating conditions, which forced the temporary stand behind the posts to be evacuated because of safety concerns.
With Harlequins playing with the advantage of the conditions in the second half, they made inroads into the deficit, with Nick Evans slotting a penalty. When a penalty try was awarded on the hour mark, which Evans converted, the lead was reduced to six points.
Richards’s decision to replace Evans with Chris Malone with 10 minutes remaining was to backfire, however. He missed a penalty with his first touch – Richards was angry with the fourth official for sending on his replacement to take the penalty, claiming he had wanted Malone to come on after it had been taken – and then had a kick charged down by Rory Best which, after a hack on by Stephen Ferris, resulted in the Ulster hooker touching down for the final score of the game in the 78th minute.
ULSTER: C Schifcofske; A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace, S Danielli; I Humphreys, I Boss; J Fitzpatrick, R Best (capt), T Court, E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, C Henry, K Dawson. Replacements: B Cunningham fpr Wallace (half-time), M McCullough for Henry (half-time), P Steinmetz for Humphreys (58 mins), B Young for Fitzpatrick (61 mins), N Brady for T Court (74 mins), P Marshall for Boss (77 mins), D Pollock for Dawson (61 mins).
HARLEQUINS: M Brown; T Williams, G Tiesi, J Turner-Hall, C Amesbury; N Evans, D Care; C Jones, C Brooker, M Ross, J Percival, G Robson, C Robshaw, N Easter, W Skinner (capt). Replacements: E Taione for G Tiesi (52 mins), C Malone for Evans (73 mins).
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Scarlets 31 Stade Français 17
Llanelli Scarlets registered their first Heineken Cup win in 12 outings to put paid to Stade Français’ last hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages at Parc y Scarlets.
The victory was earned with two tries from centre Jon Davies and one for David Lyons, as well as four penalties by Stephen Jones. Stade’s points came from two tries for wing Guillaume Bousses and one for Mirco Bergamasco.
Harlequins have qualified for the quarter-finals thanks to the Scarlets' win over Stade Français yesterday and could yet earn a home quarter-final with a bonus point win over the Scarlets.
