TRY-SCORER DELON Armitage credited the Toulon forwards after his side emerged from Kingspan Stadium with a 23-13 victory, one that leaves Ulster’s chances of progress from Pool 3 of the Champions Cup in serious doubt.
Following two trophies in the final two seasons of the Heineken Cup, Toulon have made a good start to life in the newly-named competition, showing notable improvement this afternoon compared to last weekend’s home win over Scarlets.
The likes of man of the match Chris Masoe led the physical effort as Bernard Laporte’s side showed their quality to leave Ulster in their wake, with Armitage pointing to the packs’ contributions as crucial.
When you’ve got fantastic players at the breakdown, like Chris, my brother Steffon and [Juan Martin Fernandez] Lobbe, it’s very easy,” Armitage told Sky Sports post-match. “Those boys can get over the ball really well.
“If the first bloke can get the leg tackle, it’s easy for them to get in there and steal the ball or slow it done. I think we did that really well today and the forwards worked really well. Their work rate was much better this week than last week and I think it showed in the performance.”
Armitage picked off a Nick Williams pass in the second half to ensure that Toulon had a lead that would prove insurmountable for Ulster. It was a classy intercept from a poor pass, but Armitage pointed to his team’s mindset as the real key to success.
“We spent the whole week trying to explain to these guys [his teammates] how tough it is to win over here. Not a lot of teams come over to Ulster and win games, especially in the Heineken Cup.
“No matter how they do in the league or not, they always do well in the Heineken Cup, especially with that fantastic crowd. We spent all week trying to explain that and I’m really impressed with the way we played today.
“We kept the ball well. Having the wind in the first half, we knew we had to put points on. They came at us in the second half and I thought we defended really well.”