‘LUCKY 13′. THAT’s what many headlines will bellow this morning after Ulster’s famous four-try 25-6 Friday night win in Northampton.
The only problem is, luck had very little to do with it.
Instead, the visitors put on a clinic on how to play tough Heineken Cup fixtures away from home and the only down side to come out of it was a serious arm injury to captain Johann Muller.
They dominated every facet of the game and made the fierce Premiership pack look like scolded pups.
The combined game-management of brains trust: Ruan Pienaar, Paddy Jackson and Jared Payne. The ceaseless defensive effort devised by Johnny Bell and put into practice by Chris Henry, Rory Best, Paddy Wallace and Darren Cave.
This was a lecture in how to tackle the European Cup and all it was missing was a mortarboard and a pointer for Mark Anscombe.
“That was a bit of a statement.” The head coach told the BBC in what must a late contender for the understatement of 2012.“We weren’t even thinking about the bonus point – we were more than happy to come here and take the win.”
It’s true, their pre-match chatter had so little hubris, you feared that they were coming in search for one point rather than four. And although they eventually left with all five, the final try took it’s sweet time in coming. Again however, this was no accident. It’s design.
Once the third try was grounded by man-of-the-match Jared Payne the visitors, like you would fearing a hacker, pulled the plug. They stopped playing, kicked the ball away and trusted in their defence to keep racking up towards the 129-tackle total and withstand all Northampton could throw at them with 70 percent possession.
They’ve done it before. and they will do it again.
At home to Castres in round one, they were on the front foot, breaking the game open with ease. Then, with try number three in the bag shortly after half time, it stopped. Yet they were able to crank the whole machine back into action in time for a last five-minute assault.
When Ulster take a commanding lead they defy the conventional logic: they look back, take stock and consolidate rather than attempt to scramble clear.
For Northampton this wound up looking like cruel and unusual punishment. Whereas Munster racked up a score of 51 points at Franklin’s Gardens in their final group game of last season’s competition, they traded blows and allowed the home side take 36. Ulster left a carrot dangling, and every time it bashed off their forehead and away into the distance it was demoralising.
How demoralising? We may only know next week.
“We’re not getting carried away as Northampton have too many quality players and they will bounce back from this performance.” Anscombe added.
“We have to go out and do it again next week or this will count for nothing.”
Saints captain Dylan Hartley perhaps personified the frustration boiling over time and again as the man many see as his rival for a Lions Test jersey made him look like a lightweight novice.
Intensity: ‘We got showed up’
“That was not good enough from us.” Hartley said in typical post-loss speak, but he was soon trading in some actual truth rather than rhetoric.
“We speak about intensity, they brought bags of it and we didn’t bring enough. They are unbeaten and they showed why. They are a good team but we made them look better than it could have been.
“We had internationals returning, injured players returning and our strongest team on the field but you can’t just turn up and expect it to happen.
“We got showed up by a good team, they did exactly what we would like to do to another team and they forced us into errors.”
There is little more than pride at stake for Northampton for the return fixture in Ravenhill. They have eight points to make up on the leaders and Belfast still has two home pool games to host.
Ulster’s strategy is a risky one, as it means they play within themselves for what is often a pivotal portion of the game. But they are bound for a home quarter final and still have plenty more to give.
