Champions Cup Pool 1: Toulouse v Ulster, 20 December

                  
Stade Toulousain v Ulster Rugby 
Sunday 20th December 2015
KO: 14:00
Stade Ernest Wallon, Toulouse

Live on beIN Sports / Sky Sports

Referee JP Doyle (England)
Touch Judge 1 Darren Gamage (England)
Touch Judge 2 Paul Burton (England)
Fourth Official Vincent Chiodi-Schroeder (France)
TMO David Grashoff (England)
Assessor Les Peard (Wales)
Citing Commissioner Buster White (England)

A. Head to Head

8 Played 8
3 Wins 4
4 Losses 3
1 Draws 1
171 Points 188

B. Recent Form

11 December 2015
Ulster 38 - 0 Toulouse

21 January 2007
Toulouse 28 - 13 Ulster

21 October 2006
Ulster 30 - 3 Toulouse

27 October 2000
Ulster Rugby 25 - 29 Toulouse

22 October 2000
Toulouse 35 - 35 Ulster Rugby

C. Teams

Stade Toulousain

Alexis Palisson; Kunatani Kunabuli, Gael Fickou, Florian Fritz, Timoci Matanavou; Jean-Marc Doussain, Sébastien Bézy; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Census Johnston, Gregory Lamboley, Yoann Maestri, Yacouba Camara, Thierry Dusautoir, Imanol Harinordoquy

Replacements: Christopher Tolofua, Gurthro Steenkamp, Gert Muller, Joe Tekori, Louis Picamoles, Gillian Galan, David Mele, Clément Poitrenaud

Ulster Rugby

Louis Ludik; Andrew Trimble, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Craig Gilroy; Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar; Kyle McCall, Rory Best, Wiehahn Herbst; Alan O'Connor, Franco van der Merwe; Robbie Diack, Sean Reidy, Roger Wilson.

Replacements: Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Ricky Lutton, Lewis Stevenson, Nick Williams, Paul Marshall, Ian Humphreys, Rory Scholes.

C'mon Toulouse!!!!

Big game for Ulster this, a win and their hopes of progressing to the knock-outs are very much alive, a defeat and they'll need a win at Sarries to go through (or maybe a draw if other things go their way?), which is a tough ask given how strong Sarries have looked so far this season.

Toulouse while not quite out of it look fairly disinterested so far this season, so Ulster certainly have a chance. Then again, French teams tend to be a different proposition at home...

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Big game for Ulster this, a win and their hopes of progressing to the knock-outs are very much alive, a defeat and they'll need a win at Sarries to go through (or maybe a draw if other things go their way?), which is a tough ask given how strong Sarries have looked so far this season.

Toulouse while not quite out of it look fairly disinterested so far this season, so Ulster certainly have a chance. Then again, French teams tend to be a different proposition at home...

It may all come down to Sarries approach to the Ulster game, they should confirm their qualification this weekend so may rest players for the final pool games. However they have a lot of competition for places and if they keep their undefeated streak up they will fight hard for that

Did a few teams qualify on 17 points last year? If we beat Oyonoux home and away with maximum points plus a bonus here and the allianz that should be enough.

A win here would be handy enough though!

I just hope we can repeat the performance. Toulouse will be looking for revenge for the nilling at Ravers but it's up to the Ulster lads raise their game yet again. I hope they can.

Saracens qualified with 17 last season and Toulouse missed out with 17. Ospreys currently have 10 points, Bath and Saints 8 and Stade 5 but with 10 tries scored to Ulsters 5 but Saints and Stade have both only played 2 games as well

The postponements make it hard to read

This weekend if Ulster can maintain the tempo from last week it will be half the battle but that probably means Pienaar and Jackson will get a lot of attention from Toulouses backrow

Cyril wrote:C'mon Toulouse!!!!

I wish them the best of luck, but I fear they are on the slide

Ulster Team
(15-9): L Ludik, A Trimble, L Marshall, S McCloskey, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): K McCall, R Best (captain), W Herbst, A O'Connor, F van der Merwe, R Diack, S Reidy, R Wilson;
Replacements (16-23): R Herring, A Warwick, R Lutton, L Stevenson, N Williams, P Marshall, I Humphreys, R Scholes.

Wilson and Reidy come in Williams moves to bench and looks like Henry is rested all together no injury

No Henry. Is Henry injured? Whatever the reason, Henry is a big loss for this game.

Was Henry not rested a few weeks ago?

Toulouse team:

Alexis Palisson; Kunatani Kunabuli, Gael Fickou, Florian Fritz, Timoci Matanavou; Jean-Marc Doussain, Sébastien Bézy; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Census Johnston, Gregory Lamboley, Yoann Maestri, Yacouba Camara, Thierry Dusautoir, Imanol Harinordoquy

Replacements: Christopher Tolofua, Gurthro Steenkamp, Gert Muller, Joe Tekori, Louis Picamoles, Gillian Galan, David Mele, Clément Poitrenaud

9 changes from Toulouse, McAllister and Flood both dropped completely and no fly half cover on the bench.

From the Irish Times:

CHRIS Henry will not be risked by Ulster as they prepare to face the Toulouse backlash on Sunday.

The Ulster flanker will sit out the trip to the south of France because of a slight shoulder injury. It’s understood that he could have played, but that Les Kiss has rested him ahead of a busy period.

His place is taken by Sean Reidy, while Roger Wilson replaces Nick Williams at number 8 in the only other change to the Ulster line-up.

I think that might be a good decision if he is a doubt don't just throw him out there and hope he won't have any long term damage. Hopefully Reidy's improvement this year will continue but its a big loss

I think Ulster stand a very good chance to win this and progress. The way they approached and played last weekend was outstanding, Toulouse may be on the slide somewhat but Ulster put them to sword brilliantly.

Absolutely correct decision to leave Henry out if he is not at full fitness.

Well certainly good luck to Ulster. These back to back fixtures seem to frequently have some very unpredictable results. Just get the win.........

i just hope ulster try and play some rugby again

Well here goes. It's going to be tough but, if the forwards front up as the did last week, we have a chance.

Weather in Toulouse is supposed to be overcast and a bit damp but generally dry.

I honestly believe that Ulster will stuff them.

I hope the teams can adapt to Doyle's interpretation of the breakdown or this is going to be a penalty fest.

VDM is really enjoying hanging out in the wing and throwing hospital passes to the real wingers. What is that about?

I'm very suprised nothing happened about that Jackson hit, it was well after he stopped, well after the whistle went and his back was turned it looked completely deliberate and could have really hurt him.

Warwick has been a bit disastrous. Rolled too many times and got turned over then seconds later gives away three points.

Thankfully McCalls back but Duisatoir was cynical there and should have went to the bin

No maul, Pienaar's knee went to ground instantly. Doyle has been really poor.

Thought the same, the forward pass looked flat too the 10 metre line was the give away

That is atrocious. Getting tgat lineout wrong. Shocking.

And yea, Pienaar was shoved back as he released the pass which gave the illusion of it being forward. Def flat.

Never in doubt!

23-25

Congratulations, Ulster.

Beating the Aristocrats home and away is something to be very proud of.

Could be a springboard for the rest of your season.

Stuart Barnes saying Ulster could finish best runners up, top spot is still possible

My God I can breathe again!

And we won by playing attacking rugby, scoring two good tries against the win! Thats the best thing. But what a squeaky bum experience.

Bring on Oyonnax home and away.

Doyle very poor all round (benefiting both sides at time), but what a win for Ulster! Just two weeks ago everyone was ready to write off the season, exactly what the doctor ordered!

Well done Ulster, what a great win!

Great stuff Ulster,backing up last weeks win was important.It looks like Kiss has made an immediate impact and you're back playing good rugby again.

All I can say is.....

How about that!
We wanted the Ulstermen to go over there and put in a performance and that was even better than I'd hoped for.
Paddy Jackson has got a licence to play rugby again and looks very impressive. McCloskey has to be in the box seat for an ireland start - he's our form man. Diack looks reinvigorated, O'connor and McCall look comfortable at that level and Trimble is returning to form.
Hopefully we keep building in the Pro12 too.
Excited to watch Ulster again, Thanks Les

Congrats Ulster, great result!

Thankyou to everyone congratulating Ulster on this and last weeks result

Gotta say Jackson is a joy to watch. Hope he sees some games in green

JP Doyle is honestly useless - got things wrong both ways - for balance, as an example the scrum penalty that ultimately led to Ulster's first try was the worst one I've seen in a long time - the Ulster 3 clearly loses his bind and then collapses under the Toulouse 1 and Doyle gives the penalty the wrong way - what a plonker.

Also the inexplicable decision to give us to a lineout in our 22 after we were the ones to put it out was crucial, although I think that was a touch judge call. But feck it, with their rolling maul I'll take that kind of mistake all day!

Pienaars pass to McCloskey was flat though- there's a 7-pointer gone due to poor mistake.

In any event, the refereeing at least managed to balance out and didn't unduly influence the result.

Regardless of whether he had a good game or not... JP Doyle just comes across as a bit of a Tool

That's my issue though with such poor officiating - you can never tell whether it influences the result or not as once a mistake is made everything from that point plays out differently - the line out call for example - what if Toulouse catch and drive and go over - or draw a penalty etc etc ... you just never know.

Tbh I think the mistakes sometimes do make a difference and some wins are down to lucky calls in a team's favour - I guess you just have to accept that as nothing's perfect and it's a difficult game to referee to be a bit fair to the officials.

toml wrote:Regardless of whether he had a good game or not... JP Doyle just comes across as a bit of a Tool

That's a good point though ... I think I've never forgiven him for once red carding a London Irish player for something he 'thought' he saw but was later proved to be a perfectly legal tackle ...

The same goes for the Pienaar forward pass, he allowed play to continue in the first half despite a blatant forward pass for Scholes then stops play for McCloskey going through. He sees a replay and says he was right when he was wrong, Ulster get that and they could be looking at a bonus point try and putting a bit of extra pressure on Saracens for their game at Allianz

I think he lives in a different reality to the rest of us ...