UPSET FOR ULSTER

For the first time this season, Ulster tasted defeat. After such a brilliant win last weekend in Northampton, they crashed to a poor defeat at the hands of the Saints on Saturday night. It was a poor night.

The loss will be a slap in the face for Ulster – people were referring to them as invincible. Not any more. Quite simply, Ulster were outplayed by the side they outplayed a week before, and they deservedly lost.

It was a night to forget for every Ulster fan.

Poor performance

Let’s not beat about the bush – Ulster played poorly and the Saints played well. The Saints did their homework after the match last week and Ulster did not. The result was probably the correct one based on how the two teams fared – from start to finish, Northampton threatened and they played Ulster well.

That said, Ulster didn’t play well themselves. They made so many basic errors that if they had won, it probably would have been unfair on the visitors. Ulster fell apart, something which they haven’t done all season, and just could not break through a solid green defensive wall.

There’s no doubt about it, the basic errors was what lost them the match, make no doubt about that. Ulster made 20 handling errors – a number which is unacceptable at this level. If they had held even half of those it could have been a different story. The Ulster players have said that Mark Anscombe is a coach that really focuses on the basics. If this is true, then they will be getting a real earful in training this week.

Up front, they were demolished. After completely dominating the Saints scrum only a week before, the tables were turned and the Saints got their revenge. The new front row of Tonga’uiha, Haywood and Doran-Jones won the battle over the Ulster scrum and that was what set the platform for the win.

It was due to the fact that Iain Henderson was thrown into the second row in place of Johann Muller. The push in the scrum that Ulster had the previous weekend was gone and it allowed the Saints to gain that upper hand. Maybe if Neil McComb had been playing then the strength may have been maintained, but as it is, Henderson started and it was the wrong call.

In fact, all of the forwards had a poor match. Ulster had a nightmare at the breakdown, they were turned over on multiple occasions and just could not compete with the intensity that Northampton brought.

All of the backs had a poor match too. They created next to nothing in attack and looked very lacklustre all night. Anscombe will have a lot to look at in the week or Ulster could be looking at two straight defeats considering they have Leinster at home next weekend.

And on a sad note, it was upsetting to see Tommy Bowe come off so badly injured near the end of the match. Hopefully he is all right and we will see him back in a white shirt before the end of the season.

Ulster may have lost, but it’s not the end of the world. They are still in control of the pool and still have a great chance of getting a home quarter-final. But if Ulster don’t improve for next weekend, then things could start going downhill for them, very quickly.

Ireland’s fall

What a change a week can make. After Ulster’s demise, it was a very poor weekend in general for the Irish provinces.

After their incredible win over the Basque giants Biarritz, Connacht headed to the south of France hoping to cause another big shock in the Heineken Cup. It was not to be. In absolutely terrible conditions, the Galway side were nilled in a comprehensive 17-0 defeat. That result leaves them facing an uphill battle to qualify, even for the Amlin Challenge Cup.

On Sunday, Munster travelled to London hoping to beat the Saracens at Vicarage Road. But after a brave struggle, the Limerick side came out on the wrong side of a 19-13 scoreline. It leaves them third in their pool and in danger of missing out on the knockouts for the second time in three years – a difficult proposition for them.

But the biggest shock of all was Leinster’s defeat in the Aviva Stadium to Clermont. The European champions just have not been firing on all cylinders this season and crashed to their second straight defeat in the tournament, losing 28-21 and leaving them on the brink of elimination. Realistically only 10 points from their last two games will see them through, but the way they have been playing, this seems unlikely.

It looks increasingly likely that Ulster will be the only Irish side in the quarter-finals, but you can never rule out the giants of Leinster and Munster. And don’t think that Connacht will roll over any time soon either…