Ulster Rugby have kept Irish interest in the Champions Cup alive. The northerners were destoryed in the first half by Top 14 minnows Oyonnax. Oyonnax dominated the first half and put up a score of 23-0 to lead after the opening 40 minutes. They were dominant up front, and Ulster were in disarray at scrum-time.
But something changed at the break. Ruan Pienaar, Paddy Jackson, and Nick Williams came on, and Ulster scored three tries to bring them back into it - before Paddy Jackson showed nerves of steel to give Ulster the win with a 53 metre kick:
Then Ulster nearly blew it. With 60 seconds left in the game, Ulster had a scrum in their own territory. They just needed to kick it out and they would have won the game. But Ulster didn't want to make things easy for themselves in this game. Their scrum was decimated again, and Roger Wilson didn't pick the ball up in time before Oyonnax were awarded the scrum in prime position. What happened next was pretty special:
None of that would have been relevant were it not for the second half effort started with a piece of magic from young Ulster winger Rory Scholes. A name to watch out for, and one that Joe Schmidt should be excited about getting into an extended Six Nations squad:
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Just look at his poise and balance, a wonderful solo try:
A wonderful day for Ulster Rugby, but they might regret not getting the try bonus point.
