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The Champions Cup, as we now know it, has
brought excitement to the stadium, and last
season’s despatch of Toulouse and Oyonnax
brought a quarter-final place agonisingly close.
But for a club with Ulster’s quality, resources
and aspirations, more regular appearances at
the ‘business end’ of the competition might
be anticipated – and one memorable Final
appearance four years ago apart – the side has
not realised its potential and its hopes. With
Ulster’s stadium, facilities and playing strength
the envy of many across the continent, Europe
remains something of a Holy Grail.
This evening marks the opening home game
in Pool 5, against an Exeter Chiefs club which
has grown into a powerful force in England’s
Premiership, and to say that for both sides
that this is a ‘must win’ battle is not at all an
understatement.
Last Sunday – when, of course, there were more
important and very human matters to dwell on –
both Ulster and Exeter lost to French opposition
to find themselves on the back foot already as
far as qualification for the knockout stages in the
New Year is concerned. The Chiefs lost heavily
at Sandy Lane to the mighty Clermont Auvergne,
but Head Coach Rob Baxter was furious with
his players’ surrender and he was untypically
unforgiving of his side’s 35-8 trouncing.
Ulster’s Director of Rugby Les Kiss has been
similarly critical of the manner of the 28-13 loss to
Bordeaux-Begles in France that same afternoon,
his frustration as his team – in the closing eight
nightmarish minutes – ceding a winning position
to a home side which capitalised on a few
too many individual errors and on some poor
decision-making.
Andrew Trimble had marked his first appearance
of the season, and his debut as captain, with
a superbly-worked first-half try to quieten the
French fans and Paddy Jackson’s boot seemed
to have just done enough to record another
fine success abroad though without a totally
convincing display in any area of the pitch. Or
what passed for a pitch!
In truth both Exeter and Ulster were out-thought
and, ultimately, outplayed by sides they would
have realistically harboured hopes of upsetting.
And though Clermont is a constant and
impressive threat in Europe Bordeaux-Begles, for
all its counter-attacking merits, was taken very
seriously by Ulster but management, players and
supporters did believe a win was very much ‘on’,
and that a promising European campaign would
be launched at Chabon-Delmas.
So, there will have been soul-searching aplenty
in the West Country and at Kingspan Stadium
this week, and for an authentic Champions Cup
challenge to be mounted there are still huge
hurdles ahead. While Ulster must concentrate on
its own agenda: a win to stay in contention for
one of those eight prized quarter-final spots.
To spark real intent into that pursuit the Chiefs
must be overcome, and the wounded Exeter
squad will know that it cannot afford the lapses
in concentration and the strangely lethargic
performance which allowed France’s Top 14
leaders to romp to a bonus-point win. Baxter has
fashioned an astonishingly gifted group at Sandy
Lane, and the side’s chase of Saracens for the
Premiership title last season was as impressive as
it was eye-catching.
Ulster and Exeter met in a pre-season contest in
August so there will be a certain familiarity this
evening, but the clubs are now competitively
battle-hardened and the teams bear only a
superficial resemblance to those which met at
Sandy Lane when the home side won.
While Ulster subsequently went on an impressive
run to the top of the PRO12 table by the end
of September the Chiefs stumbled somewhat
early on in its latest Premiership challenge.
Unsurprisingly Baxter ‘tweaked’ his line-up,
and it’s something Les Kiss and Neil Doak will
most certainly have noted that a distinct change
of fortunes came with the return to out-half of
Gareth Steenson, the Ulsterman who has created
something of a legend of himself with the English
side.
Steenson has always been a gifted and intelligent
playmaker, and while his goal-kicking prowess
has been rightly hailed he has, for the best part of
a decade, been the fulcrum of the team, a calm,
authoritative presence, as comfortable exploiting
the smallest of defensive frailties as in landing
points from any distance or angle.
European nights at Kingspan Stadium are special occasions, they have a very
particular air of expectation and of renewed ambition in players and supporters.
STAYING IN EUROPE IS ULSTER’S PRIORITY
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