European Club Rugby : Ulster Rugby v Stade Francais Paris

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Ulster Rugby v Stade Francais Paris

Ulster Rugby	23 - 13	Stade Francais Paris
Ravenhill, Belfast Att: 11,000
Referee: Dave Pearson
Saturday 12th December 2009, 13:35
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Match report

Ulster brought Stade Francais' unbeaten Heineken Cup run to an abrupt end courtesy of a comprehensive 23-13 win at Ravenhill.

Tries from hooker Nigel Brady and wing Simon Danielli, along with 13 points from the boot of Heineken Man-of-the-Match Ian Humphreys, gave the hosts their second win of the pool stages.

Both tries arrived through the kind of inventive, counter-attacking rugby usually associated with their Parisian opponents as Ulster bounced back from defeat at Edinburgh in Round 2.

Stade rarely threatened throughout the entire 80 minutes and could only muster a brace of penalties from Lionel Beauxis and a late converted try from replacement wing Julien Arias.

Having nearly come unstuck before a flurry of points in the closing stages at Bath last time out, the French giants were thoroughly outplayed by an Ulster side who dominated proceedings up front and used possession far more wisely than their illustrious visitors.

Former Leicester fly-half Humphreys was at the heart of Ulster's positive approach, as was Ireland and Lions flanker Stephen Ferris who was highly visible in both attack and defence.

Brady crossed for the game's opening try with a quarter of the match played as Ulster ignored the fear factor of being turned over and attacked from deep in their own territory.

Humphreys led the way with the initial surge before swapping passes with Danielli wide on the left. A second inside ball from Humphreys to Brady then gave the No2 a clear run to the line from 25 metres out.

Humphreys added the conversion to go with an earlier penalty as Ulster moved 10-3 in front.

The two outside-halves then traded penalties before the half-time interval to give Ulster at 13-6 advantage at the break.

They soon increased that lead as a third penalty from Humphreys with 46 minutes gone was followed by their second try of the afternoon.

Again the score came as a direct result of Ulster's positive approach, with Ferris providing the crucial 30-metre surge after the hosts moved the ball through the hands from deep.

Ferris drew the attention of two tacklers 30 metres out before feeding Danielli for another well-taken score.

Humphreys slotted the extras once more to take Ulster three scores clear with just over half an hour left to play.

Stade did improve for the remainder of the game but they never looked like overturning the substantial deficit.

Arias' late intervention gave them hope of sorts with six minutes to go but Noel Oelschig's 78th-minute penalty miss meant the 2001 and 2005 finalists left for home without even a losing bonus point.

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Ulster Rugby

Stade Francais Paris

Pos

Player

Pos

Clinton Schifcofske

Hugo Southwell

Andrew Trimble

Mark Gasnier

Darren Cave

Mathieu Bastareaud

Ian Whitten

Geoffroy Messina

Simon Danielli

Ollie Phillips

Ian Humphreys

Lionel Beauxis

Isaac Boss

Julien Dupuy

Tom Court

Rodrigo Roncero (capt)

Nigel Brady

Benjamin Kayser

Declan Fitzpatrick

Sylvain Marconnet

Ed O'Donoghue

Arnaud Marchois

Dan Tuohy

Pascal Pape

Stephen Ferris

James Haskell

David Pollock

Antoine Burban

Chris Henry (capt)

Pierre Rabadan

Replacements

Andy Kyriacou

Dimitri Szarzewski

Bryan Young

David Attoub

Justin Fitzpatrick

Rabah Slimani

Ryan Caldwell

Pierre Vigouroux

Willie Faloon

Mauro Bergamasco

Paul Marshall

Noel Oelschig

Niall O'Connor

Guillaume Bousses

Jamie Smith

Julien Arias

Penalty Tries

First half timeline
13	Ulster Rugby	Penalty kick - I Humphreys
17	Stade Francais Paris	Penalty kick - L Beauxis
20	Ulster Rugby	Try - N Brady
21	Ulster Rugby	Conversion - I Humphreys
28	Stade Francais Paris	Penalty kick - L Beauxis
34	Ulster Rugby	Penalty kick - I Humphreys
Second half timeline
41	Stade Francais Paris	Substitution - M Bergamasco on for A Burban
46	Stade Francais Paris	Yellow card - J Dupuy
46	Stade Francais Paris	Substitution - N Oelschig on for L Beauxis
47	Ulster Rugby	Penalty kick - I Humphreys
48	Ulster Rugby	Try - S Danielli
49	Ulster Rugby	Conversion - I Humphreys
50	Stade Francais Paris	Substitution - D Attoub on for S Marconnet
52	Stade Francais Paris	Substitution - D Szarzewski on for B Kayser
52	Stade Francais Paris	Substitution - G Bousses on for G Messina
63	Ulster Rugby	Substitution - W Faloon on for D Pollock
63	Ulster Rugby	Substitution - B Young on for D Fitzpatrick
64	Stade Francais Paris	Substitution - J Arias on for H Southwell
69	Ulster Rugby	Substitution - A Kyriacou on for N Brady
70	Stade Francais Paris	Substitution - P Vigouroux on for P Pape
71	Ulster Rugby	Substitution - N O'Connor on for I Humphreys
74	Stade Francais Paris	Try - J Arias
74	Ulster Rugby	Yellow card - B Young
74	Stade Francais Paris	Yellow card - D Attoub
74	Ulster Rugby	Substitution - J Smith on for D Cave
75	Stade Francais Paris	Conversion - N Oelschig
76	Stade Francais Paris	Substitution - R Slimani on for M Bergamasco
76	Ulster Rugby	Substitution - J Fitzpatrick on for S Ferris

Results so far

Ulster Rugby

Date	Stage	Opposition	Score
23/1/10	Pool 4	Bath Rugby	W 28-10
15/1/10	Pool 4	Edinburgh	W 21-13
20/12/09	Pool 4	Stade Francais Paris	L 16-29
12/12/09	Pool 4	Stade Francais Paris	W 23-13
17/10/09	Pool 4	Edinburgh	L 13-17
9/10/09	Pool 4	Bath Rugby	W 26-12

Stade Francais Paris

Date	Stage	Opposition	Score
11/4/10	Quarter Finals	Toulouse	L 16-42
23/1/10	Pool 4	Edinburgh	L 7-9
16/1/10	Pool 4	Bath Rugby	W 15-13
20/12/09	Pool 4	Ulster Rugby	W 29-16
12/12/09	Pool 4	Ulster Rugby	L 13-23
18/10/09	Pool 4	Bath Rugby	W 29-27
10/10/09	Pool 4	Edinburgh	W 31-7

Previous Heineken Cup meetings

Date	Stage	Home	Score	Away
Sun 20th Dec 09	Pool 4	Stade Francais Paris	29 - 16	Ulster Rugby
Sat 12th Dec 09	Pool 4	Ulster Rugby	23 - 13	Stade Francais Paris
Sat 24th Jan 09	Pool 4	Stade Francais Paris	24 - 19	Ulster Rugby
Sat 11th Oct 08	Pool 4	Ulster Rugby	10 - 26	Stade Francais Paris
Sat 11th Dec 04	Pool 6	Ulster Rugby	18 - 10	Stade Francais Paris
Sat 4th Dec 04	Pool 6	Stade Francais Paris	30 - 10	Ulster Rugby
Sat 24th Jan 04	Pool 1	Stade Francais Paris	13 - 10	Ulster Rugby
Fri 12th Dec 03	Pool 1	Ulster Rugby	22 - 20	Stade Francais Paris
Fri 2nd Nov 01	Pool 2	Ulster Rugby	19 - 16	Stade Francais Paris
Sat 27th Oct 01	Pool 2	Stade Francais Paris	40 - 11	Ulster Rugby
Sat 9th Jan 99	Semi Finals	Ulster Rugby	33 - 27	Stade Francais Paris

Heineken CupHistory

Ulster Rugby

2009/10 - Pool 4

2008/09 - Pool 4

2007/08 - Pool 2

2006/07 - Pool 5

2005/06 - Pool 4

2004/05 - Pool 6

2003/04 - Pool 1

2002/03 - Pool 6

2001/02 - Pool 2

2000/01 - Pool 3

1999/00 - Pool 3

1998/99 - Champions

1997/98 - Pool B

1996/97 - Pool C

1995/96 - Pool B

Stade Francais Paris

2009/10 - Quarter Finals

2008/09 - Pool 4

2007/08 - Pool 3

2006/07 - Quarter Finals

2005/06 - Pool 3

2004/05 - Runners up

2003/04 - Quarter Finals

2001/02 - Quarter Finals

2000/01 - Runners up

1999/00 - Quarter Finals

1998/99 - Semi Finals

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