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MAXIMUM RETURN IS THE TARGET!
Nothing quite stirs the rugby juices than the prospect of a glamorous
European contest at Kingspan Stadium, and if today’s opposition is
relatively new to the ‘big time’, Oyonnax has certainly made a firm
impression this season!
ROD NAWN
Just two weeks ago the small club in the shadow
of the Alps came perilously close to causing one of
the big shocks of the season, and in the process
derailing an Ulster side which in previous weeks had
moved ominously through the gears.
The small town club’s rise to the heights of the
domestic Top 14 is something of a fairytale, and now
it may well hold the key to further progress for Ulster
in the Champions Cup.
Few rugby matches have provoked more comment,
been chronicled more fully, than the game on
a gloomy French Sunday when the presumed
‘minnows’ rushed into a 23-0 interval lead, the pride
of Ulster apparently put to the sword.
The truth – and the myths! – of how Ulster was
transformed, and how it battled back to win the tie
with Paddy Jackson’s mammoth 78th penalty, will
provide discussion and debate for many a year.
That Les Kiss returned with his squad that night 24-
23 winners, with four vital points gained – rather than
five potentially squandered in the Alpine foothills
– will loom large in the memory of those who were
there, nerves mangled, emotions tortured, and of
those at home, watching or listening, as the bizarre
events in the Stade Charles-Mathon unfolded.
Would Ulster fans this afternoon, packing Kingspan
Stadium to the rafters, as the side seeks the
emphatic win against the same opposition which
could secure a Champions Cup quarter-final, want to
be put quite so thoroughly ‘through the mill’ again?
Perhaps nerves and blood pressure would not be so
forgiving!
The upshot of last weekend’s round of games in all
five pools was, as we perhaps all expected, a final
series of matches which will determine the quarter-
final line-up. And Ulster has known since the loss
at Saracens last Saturday that only an emphatic
– probably bonus point – win today will place it in a
genuine position to reach the last eight.
And that was never going to be easy, and if there
was frustration with the escape from Oyonnax
with a win that must now be put in context, for the
tournament debutants showed the first half against
the Ulstermen was no freak. The demolition of
Toulouse - as Saracens confirmed its domination
of the group with qualification at Allianz Park -
demonstrated that the side which only recently
ascended to the top tier of the French game was
never an ‘easy touch’.
Perhaps too quickly observers of the competition
had dismissed Oyonnax as lambs to the rugby
slaughter, but logic – and that old mind-bender,
hindsight – now proves that the side preparing in
the away dressing room at Kingspan this lunchtime
has been poorly-served by some parts of the media
and by rugby followers unfamiliar with the game in
France.
In fullback Quentin Etienne, former Welsh
international Nicky Robinson at half-back, in winger
Uwa Tawalo, centre Eamonn Sheridan, prop Laurent
Delboulbes, lock Fabrice Metz and flanker Maurie
Fa’asavulu, there is a clear, quality spine to the team.
Recent changes in the coaching team, the decision
to dispense only this week with Piri Weepu, an All
Black 71 times, have been distractions – but not to
opposition players and managements.
Les Kiss, Ulster’s Director of Rugby, cautioned
against unrealistic expectations from the
rescheduled trip to Oyonnax a fortnight ago, and
assistant coach Allen Clarke – who had analysed
performances minutely – was an unapologetic
admirer of a big but mobile pack.
On Saturday last Toulouse came unstuck and could
not navigate a way to match that forward unit and
to undermine a well-drilled and often innovative
backline.
Ulster was under the hammer for forty minutes,
which sparked some social media incredulity in
genuine fans who had journeyed to the Rhone-Alpes
region, charmed by the environment but mostly
convinced that maximum points would be extracted
on a dank French afternoon on an artificial surface
which would surely unleash the visitors’ free-running
backs!
Professional sport just isn’t as predictable as
that now, and Saracens before it, and Toulouse
a week later, shared Ulster’s experience of a
team of talented and shrewdly-recruited players
prepared well by Johann Authier. It remains a group
determined to represent itself – and a community
swelling with pride at its recent rise to rugby’s top
table – with a performance justifying the form of the
last two years which has earned Top 14 and now
European Champions Cup rugby.