Ulster’s Champions Cup campaign got off to the worst possible start after they fell to a 61-21 defeat to holders Toulouse.
In all, the French Kingpins ran in eight tries before they were awarded a penalty try in the final seconds after Tom O’Toole was adjudged to have illegally brought down a maul just short of the line.
Ulster replied through James McCormick, Stewart Moore and Iain Henderson but it wasn’t enough to derail another scintillating performance from Europe’s finest.
Despite the gallant best, they failed to gain a fourth try which would have yielded a bonus point for Richie Murphy’s men.
“Very tough,” was how Murphy described a very chastising afternoon.
“Obviously conceding 61 points wasn’t part of the plan. A lot of our basics weren’t at the level they needed to be.
“Defended poorly enough at times, obviously around set-piece, but I did think our maul ‘D’ (Defence) and scrum held up reasonably well under the pressure it was at.
“But you know, some of our defence and our breakdown of attack wasn’t at the level needed for this level of rugby.”
With Ulster being somewhat stand-offish in defence, a star-studded Toulouse didn’t need a second invitation to run hard at the visitors.
Winger Matthis Lebel touched down in the corner with barely a minute on the clock and when Romain Ntamack scored his side’s second try in the 8th minute, the writing was already on the wall for a young Ulster outfit.
Hooker McCormick marked his European debut with a try in the 12th minute, but led by the mercurial Antoine Dupont, Toulouse claimed further first-half tries from Emmanuel Meafou, Italian Ange Capuozzo and Dupont himself.
Again, Ulster responded, this time from Stewart Moore, but before the half-time whistle sounded, Meafou got in for his second try to leave the score, 40-14 at the break.
Iain Henderson responded for Ulster after the break but Santiago Chocobares and Capuozzo added to Toulouse’s total before a penalty try in the final minute completed the rout.
But while Toulouse may have dazzled, Murphy was annoyed at how much of Ulster undoing was of their own work.
“They were very good with the ball in hand, but we also gave them the time and space to be able to play.
“And that’s what we’ve done. We looked a little bit at sea at times in the outside channels which is disappointing.
“It’s something we need to work at. It’s something we haven’t been exposed at before now, so yeah, that will be one of things in review that we’ll need to get right before next week against Bordeaux”.
But there were also positives for Murphy to pick from the remains of defeat.
With Ulster missing a number of front liners, it was inexperienced that took to the field at the Stade Ernest Wallon.
Murphy believes that this experience will also stand to his young team.
“I think it will be massive for them,” continued Murphy.
“You got quite a few guys making their European debut. Quite a few of our players who have less than 10 caps for Ulster.
“I think our scrum done reasonably well against a top scrum.
“I thought maul ‘’D’ was pretty good at times and obviously scoring three tries against Toulouse is a decent return
“So, to come to a place like this and play against a quality outfit like Toulouse it will be a big learning for them to what the real level is because they are the European champions and you know they won’t be very far away this year either.”
