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Ulster Rugby may only have a three-point lead in their Pool but there is little doubt they are now in the driving seat and are the favourites to make the quarter-finals stage for the third season on the trot. - 09/01/2013 15:25
Ulster Rugby have qualified for the quarter-finals but they will want to guarantee a home draw by getting an away victory over Castres Olympique.
But to earn that home tie in April they need to do something they have never managed before – win a tournament match on French soil.
The Irish province, who are also top of the PRO12 table, have reached their third successive Heineken Cup quarter-final and were beaten finalists in last season’s tournament.
Ulster are the only Irish province to have qualified for the quarter-finals with a game to play, with both Leinster and Munster still needing victories in their final games to have any chance of qualification.
The Belfast side, who won the tournament back in 1999 and rely heavily on Ruan Pienaar, recorded a hard-fought 23-6 victory over Glasgow Warriors at Ravenhill in the last round and will be under no illusions of what faces them in France.
Castres will want to do themselves justice after the manner of their 41-17 defeat they suffered to the Irish province in the opening game of this Pool back at Ravenhill back in October.
The French side suffered a narrow 18-12 defeat to Northampton Saints in their last game in the Pool and cannot qualify for the quarter-finals but they could deny Ulster a home draw in the last eight.
They will be confident that they can make life difficult for Ulster at their formidable home ground of Stade Pierre Antoine, where the Belfast side have never played before.
Match Facts
- Castres’ only Heineken Cup Round 6 victory since 2002 came at home to London Wasps (21-15) in 2008/09.
- Castres have won three of their last four home games in the Heineken Cup.
- Ulster have never won in 14 previous visits to France in the Heineken Cup. The closest they came was a 35-all draw in Toulouse on 22 October 2000.
- Ulster boast a tackle completion rate of 92%, a competition-high.
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Castres’ scrum success rate lies at 98% after five rounds of competition, comfortably the highest percentage in the Heineken Cup.
La défaite face à l'Ulster à Pierre-Antoine (8-9)
Ulster recorded their first win on French soil with a 9-8 victory over Castres but they will have to wait to see if other results go their way to find out of they get a home draw in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.
Ruan Pienaar kicked all the Irish side’s points in this hard-fought win after Ulster began the game already assured of their third Heineken Cup quarter-final place in the last three seasons.
Ulster now have to wait to see how Toulouse, Saracens and Montpellier fare in their final pool games to find out if they will be home or away in the knockout stages of Europe’s top tournament.
A bonus-point victory would have secured a home draw but Ulster, who lost last season’s Heineken Cup final to Leinster at Twickenham, never looked like scoring four tries in a tense encounter at the Stade Pierre Antoine.
Talisman and inspiration Pienaar was switched from scrum-half to fly-half for the trip to France, with first-choice Paddy Jackson ruled out with an ankle injury and Paul Marshall at scrum-half.
Castres opened the scoring when Scotland wing Max Evans’ superb behind the back pass gave his centre Remi Lamerat a straight run-in from halfway to give the home side a ninth-minute lead.
Ulster were in control at the scrum and put the home side’s pack under pressure throughout the contest and not even Castres’ former Ulster No8 Pedrie Wannenburg had an answer to their power in that area.
Pienaar and his fellow South African, Rory Kockott, swapped penalties in a tight first half to make it 8-6 at the break and the Ulster half-back’s solitary second-half penalty after 63 minutes secured the win.
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