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Ulster Rugby have a 14th straight victory as their target when the tournament's only unbeaten club in all tournaments bid to make it four from four with a quick-fire double over Northampton Saints at Ravenhill. - 14/12/2012 09:25
The Irish province lost their first two fixtures in Pool 3 against defending champions Toulon and Leicester.
The Irish province lost their first two fixtures in Pool 3 against defending champions Toulon and Leicester.
It means victory over the Scarlets is a must if the 1999 European champions are to retain any realistic hope of getting out of the group.
Wales three-quarter Williams said: “I think Ulster will be desperate. They never give up even though they are probably out of it now.
“They will want to give a massive performance, it is a tough place to go and we need the attitude we showed in Toulon in the first game where we were very competitive. Toulon outmuscled Ulster in the last round, and they lost to Munster in the Pro12 last week so they will want to try and take their anger out on us.”
The Scarlets victory over Leicester in round two has kept them firmly in the mix for a quarter-final spot, and Williams knows how vital this upcoming double-header is.
“It is massive, this is like a semi-final this weekend. The boys have done well while some of us were away with Wales and got us into some form in the league,” he said.
“But we have to lift it as this will be at a different level. We did well in Toulon and beat Leicester and we know a result this weekend would put us right in there.”
While Ulster face a difficult challenge to reach the last eight, Ireland and Lions winger Tommy Bowe sees reasons for optimism if they can get their campaign back on track at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday.
He said: “Everyone talks about needing 20 points to qualify and certainly in the past that might have been the case, but this year I think that there are a few teams who could qualify with a total just short of that.
“We know we have a massive task ahead but we are excited about the next two weeks. When people write us off that is a good motivation for us.”
Match facts
Ulster and Scarlets have met six times in Europe with Ulster unbeaten in the last two (W1, D1) however, Scarlets won all four games previously.
Apart from one draw, all but one of the games between the clubs have been won by a margin of 10 points or more.
Ulster’s Craig Gilroy has beaten 10 defenders in the tournament this season, with only Nick Abendanon (11) recording more.
Scarlets’ James Davies has won five turnovers in the tournament so far; only Steffon Armitage (7) has won more.
Après deux défaites initiales en Champions Cup
Ulster skipper Rory Best drove over for Ulster Rugby’s bonus point try to keep alive his side’s slim hopes of reaching the latter stages of the European Rugby Champions Cup with a 24-9 triumph.
After two successive home defeats in European games, last season’s quarter-final defeat to Saracens and October’s loss to reigning champions Toulon, and two successive Pool defeats this season, Best’s boys outmuscled the Scarlets to move off the bottom of the Pool 3 table.
Scarlets had only lost once in six previous European meetings against Ulster and made a promising start at the Kingspan Stadium when Rhys Priestland kicked a fourth minute penalty to grab the lead. It helped the visitors’ cause that Ian Humphreys missed with his first three kicks, but as soon as the tries started flowing they looked the most likely side to win.
The Scarlets were their own worst enemies for much of the game through their poor discipline. Flanker James Davies saw yellow for a petulant no-arms tackle on Humphreys and then Wales full back Liam Williams picked up his third yellow of the season against Ulster for a dangerous tackle
The Welsh region were made to pay heavily for Davies’ indiscretion as Ulster piled on 14 unanswered points. Tommy Bowe got outside Michael Tagicakibau before floating a wonderful scoring pass inside for centre Darren Cave to score.
Cave then caused the damage when he darted between Wales duo Samson Lee and Jake Ball. Ruan Pienaar, playing for the first time this season following a knee injury, then evaded the clutches of both Aled Davies and Scott Williams to score at the posts.
Priestland almost sparked a wonderful counter-attack after dancing between four tacklers but Emyr Phillips threw a wild pass with Harry Robinson eyeing a clear run to the line. Priestland’s second penalty cut the gap to 14-6, but he missed a third on the stroke of half-time with Scarlets again down to 14 men with Williams off the field.
Priestland’s third penalty further cut the gap to five points, but the home pack raised their game and when Tommy Bowe charged into and through Liam Williams to crash over in the right corner for his 26th European try the game was up.
All that was left was to see if Ulster could pick up the bonus point. They managed to convert a close range line-out into a try for Best, while the Scarlets failed twice at the other end with the home side down to 14 men with Pienaar off the field for a deliberate knock-on.
The two teams meet again at Parc y Scarlets next weekend. When they met there at the start of the season they drew 32-32.
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