Champions Cup Spherical of 16 – Friday: Connacht 21-26 Leinster; Saturday: cuts 9-10 Bristol, Bordeaux Biggles 13-31 La Rochelle, Toulouse 20-26 Ulster, Exeter vs. Munster, Stade Francais vs Racing 92; Sunday: Montpellier – Harlequins (1 pm), Clermont – Leicester Tiger (3.15 pm).
Final replace: 09/22/09/06/04 PM
Robert Balcon scored a hat-trick in Ulster’s win at Toulouse within the first leg of the Spherical of 16.
Robert Balcon’s hat-trick secured Ulster’s return to Ravenhill within the second leg of the Spherical of 16 second leg in opposition to Toulouse by 26-20 after the defending champions had been lowered to 14 gamers for 70 minutes.
However URC needed to cope with an surprising late assault after Romain Netamak’s 78th-minute strike put Toulouse again right into a tie that appeared to be over.
With a majority of 31,000 spectators on his again, referee Wayne Barnes – who ran off the sector on the finish of the match – had no alternative however to ship off Juan Cruz Malia after he knocked out Ulster winger Ben Moxham. Air 10 minutes after the sport performed at a punitive tempo.
Toulouse winger Juan Cruz Malia was proven a purple card within the tenth minute for knocking Ben Moxham out within the air
Baloucoune’s hat-trick – two of them coming early every half and a 3rd 13 minutes from the time through a deep interception inside his twenty second facet – was complemented by a short-term blast from substitute Andy Warwick an hour in the past.
However Netamak’s return, after a frantic interval of late urgent, means the defending champions stay inside placing distance heading into subsequent Saturday’s second leg.
Ulster celebrates at Ernest Wallon Stadium, the return leg in Belfast subsequent Saturday
An out-of-touch Toulouse headed into the sport with three wins within the final 11 matches, however with seven of France’s 4 Grand Slam champions of their ranks.
And Emmanuel Mevaux’s try within the seventh minute proved that they weren’t about to surrender their title simply.
Even after Malla was fired, they refused to shut the store and repeatedly stretched Ulster’s protection to breaking level with out having the ability to discover the killer contact.
Ulster had been on the identical stage six minutes into Mevo’s opener, and Balcon ran after strikers Nick Timoney, Marty Moore and Duane Vermeulen repeatedly created holes within the dwelling facet’s protection.
However two Thomas Ramos penalties – the second with a kick within the first half – gave the Prime 14 a 13-7 lead within the first half.
Neither facet was keen to let go of the frenetic tempo within the second half. 5 minutes later, after some nice work from the group, the ball was spinning extensive – Balcon was lurking in a really giant house. John Kony missed the conversion, protecting Toulouse within the lead by some extent.
John Kony added three transfers within the away win
Toulouse thought they cemented their benefit in beautiful vogue minutes later when Matisse Label fell after breaking Netamak almost the size of the court docket. However they had been known as up for the knockout and solely the second within the match. The primary got here within the thirty ninth minute.
Warwick’s landing, which Kony circled, led Ulster to the lead for the primary time.
Blocon’s third objective – which the raucous and more and more offended followers had been satisfied was offside – was sufficient to settle the matter, regardless of Netamak’s late rating and Ramos’ thrust into the Ulster space within the following match.
