Ulster blown away in the second half

• Published date: 15 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

The northern province had no answer to the power Clermont brought to the contest and after trailing 20-14 at the break, the visitors went on to concede 33 unanswered points and fell well short in containing the uber physicality of Peceli Yato and Pita Gus Sowakula who scored two tries each

“We weren’t good enough and there’s a lot of stuff we need to look at,” interim coach Richie Murphy admitted afterwards, Nick Timoney’s two first-half tries not being added to by the province in a scoreless second 40 minutes.

The visitors had the ideal start when Timoney got on the ball after the province had opted for a tap and go under the Clermont posts, which John Cooney converted.

Six minutes later Clermont tied things up. A penalty put towards the corner led to a lineout, Baptiste Januneau made ground down the blindside before Yato was put through a gap to score. Anthony Belleau converted.

Belleau then put his side in front for the first time with a 28th-minute penalty and increased their lead shortly afterwards with another kick.

It soon became 20-7 for the home team when a penalty was put to the corner and from the lineout Sowakula smashed his way over, which Belleau again converted.

But not long after a Sowakula tap tackle on Nathan Doak had saved a potential score. And with the clock in red, Ulster put a kickable penalty to the corner and from some muscular close-in work Timoney got through for his second, Cooney’s conversion making it 20-14 at half-time.

Even...