By J O'G
April 7 2014

Belfast is a wonderful place, the people so friendly and genuinely interested in rugby. Arriving just after lunchtime, I met up with my group at a pub to watch the last bit of the Munster match. Bus to the ground early on and stood outside supping a few beers in the build-up to the match.

Those fezzes are great for attracting attention and large numbers of Ulster supporters came up to commiserate with us in advance for the loss that they were about to inflict us. Oh and Frankie Peanuts popped over to say hello. Finally getting to my seat it seemed almost like being at AzP, as the row behind featured a number of the same supporters.

The match finally started and soon Sarries were winning a penalty. It was at the other end so not quite sure what it was for, but Faz pushed what seemed like a fairly easy kick wide. It was unfortunately going to be a regular feature of the match. Then came the defining moment on 4 minutes. A high kick was pushed just outside the Sarries 22 and Goode “leapt like a salmon” to secure the catch. Unfortunately, Payne was also intent on the ball and took his legs away forcing Alex to land on his neck and leave the field 7 minutes later. Mr. Garces had no hesitation with the penalty and a card; his hand was straight into his pocket. This is just my personal opinion, but if Alex had got up it probably would have been a yellow, but in the minutes whilst he was treated and was obviously going to leave the pitch, Mr. Garces was able to review the incident again. And much like Stuart Hogg for Scotland, the second look changed his mind to the red.

A disaster for Ulster, playing with 14 for most of the match. However, as we know too well with our own players sometimes adversity makes the others stronger and Ulster certainly raised their game. Sarries were giving away a few penalties at the breakdown and shortly afterward they got a kick roughly matching Faz’s earlier effort. Pienaar made no mistake. And for most of the next 15 minutes kept Sarries on the back foot, but didn’t look like scoring. The first scrum 8-7 resulted in a penalty for Sarries, but it was from the next on their own 22 that a better result came. Ernst broke from the back and made some ground and quick ball out to Farrell enabled an inside pass to Ashton coming through at speed. He curled around the covering players in an arc and took the winger for pace on the outside. I thought that he was incorrect to do the splash in this instance. There was a possibility of getting in behind the cover for a simple conversion but he splashed close to the corner. Faz missed the tricky conversion.

The game was pretty attritional on both side, Duncan Taylor and Rory Best coming off. Charlie moved to fly half, Faz to 13, with Wyles at full-back from Goode’s injury. Charlie started to push the defence around as he does so well making the job for the one player short defence worse. Wyles came into the line to make a clear overlap for Strettle but the final pass was pretty bad, hitting him on the back and Ulster kicked on. Suddenly they looked like getting a bit of luck with a hacked on ball, but Sculla swept back to cover and carried the ball into touch. From the lineout Ulster drove and Sarries were deemed to have collapsed it when they got a drive on. Pienaar took back the lead for Ulster with a tricky kick.

Sarries kept throwing the ball around, making overlaps appear all over the pitch. It wasn’t just the extra man; often the overlaps were 2 or 3 players. However, they didn’t seem to be getting the ball wide quickly enough. Brad certainly took the ball back into contact a couple of times, when the pass out would have made better results. Sarries could easily have scored 3 tries in the first half. But although Ulster didn’t threaten even the 22 they were picking up penalties every time they got into our half. Mako seemed to be struggling with Afoa and from the first kickable attempt Pienaar missed but with the second; the last kick of the half he made no mistake. 9-5 to Ulster at half-time. I felt that with the effort they were putting in Ulster would have to tire. Having said that it wasn’t just the extra man; Sarries looked fitter and were creating enough chances to finish the game; failing to do so with bad final decisions, missed kicks and a bit of indiscipline. At half-time all the talk was of the red card and could Ulster hang on.

The second half was pretty much the same as the last part of the first half. Sarries were in control when they had the ball, but didn’t seem to be able to get over the line. An early attack saw Brad drive to within a yard or so and from the next phase Wyles was held up on the line. Shortly afterwards it seemed easier to score than not and tremendous defence from Ulster was keeping them in the game. Finally a long pass to the wing, where Botha collected and fell over the line. To be honest I didn’t see him against the crowd and initially thought Faz had passed straight to touch. However, Faz missed the kick and he did so again from a reasonably straightforward kick a few minutes later that normally you would have bet the house on him nailing.

Ulster were not out of it certainly, but they could not get closer than penalty attempts from the 10 yard line. Pienaar missed a long range effort, and shortly after Botha’s try he went off. Jackson took over the kicking duties and bounced another 10 yard line effort off the outside of the posts. Sarries got the ball and worked their way downfield with some great drives and a superb jinking run from Scalla who had his best game for a while, probably all season. From the quick ruck with the defence in tatters, Faz turned and kicked cross-field picked out Ashton unmarked on the wing. Glen Jackson could not have done better. Then with probably the most difficult kick of the game Faz finally got on the scoresheet.

Sarries 8 points up with 12 minutes left the game seemed all over, but Ulster roused themselves for one last effort. Still not making it into the 22, they quickly got two kickable penalties and suddenly were 2 points behind with 3 minutes left. Sarries secured the kick-off but kicked it away and from the deep Ulster tried one last throw of the dice. There were 32 phases of play, but their only chance came from Sarries conceding a penalty, since they were not in drop-goal range. Well perhaps for Hoo-Haa but certainly not anyone else. Burger was magnificent in those last phases, making what seemed like 10 tackles as Ulster went from side to side and made no ground. Suddenly one foray too far forward left a player isolated and Sarries won the penalty for hanging on.

We won, but it seemed a hollow victory. I would have liked to have won against 15 men. But if you analyse the match the next day perhaps it wasn’t so close. Sarries scored 3 tries and could easily have scored 3 more when it seemed easier to score than not. Had Faz taken his kicking boots with him, it would have been 9-10 at half-time and we could easily have gone 17 points up with 10 to go. Congratulations must go to Ulster who played their hearts out and could have got that penalty in the last 32 phases. The bottom line was that Ulster apart from a couple of driving mauls never looked like scoring a try and Sarries scored 3.

We will have to play better than that though to beat Clermont at HQ in 3 weeks time

Match details

Scores 3-0 Pienaar pen; 3-5 Ashton try; 6-5 Pienaar pen; 9-5 Pienaar pen; 9-10 Botha try; 9-15 Ashton try; 9-17 Farrell con; 12-17 Jackson pen; 15-17 Jackson pen

Ulster: J Payne, A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, T Bowe, P Jackson, R Pienaar, T Court, R Best, J Afoa, J Muller (capt), D Tuohy, R Wilson, N Williams, C Henry.

Replacements: Gilroy for Trimble (65), P Marshall for Pienaar (50), Herring for Best (13), Diack for Muller (69), Henderson for Tuohy (60), Ferris for Williams (55).

Not used: Warwick, R Lutton.

Sent-off: Payne (5).

Saracens: A Goode, C Ashton, D Taylor, B Barritt, D Strettle, O Farrell, R Wigglesworth, M Vunipola, S Brits, J Johnston, S Borthwick (capt), M Botha, B Vunipola, J Burger, E Joubert.

Replacements: Wyles for Goode (5), Hodgson for Taylor (11), de Kock for Wigglesworth (69), Stevens for Johnston (48), Brown for Joubert (65).

Not used: George, Barrington, Sheriff.

Att: 18,000

Ref: Jerome Garces (France).