Ulster face an uphill task after home defeat by impressive Toulon

Toulon made it two wins from two after tries from Bryan Habana and Delon Armitage secured an impressive victory at Ulster, putting the French side in a strong position in European Champions Cup Pool Three.

Habana’s try on the stroke of half-time gave the visitors a 16-3 lead, before Armitage’s interception score saw Toulon home. There were fine performances from Steffon Armitage and Juan Smith, while Leigh Halfpenny contributed three penalties and two conversions.

The hosts landed two penalties from Paddy Jackson, who also converted Craig Gilroy’s late consolation try, but defeat left Ulster’s bid to make the last eight looking effectively over.

The French side had the first scoring opportunity after two minutes, but Halfpenny’s monster wind-assisted penalty from inside his own half, which came just after Juan Fernández Lobbe left the action with a leg injury to be replaced by Juan, drifted wide.

He was on target seven minutes later, though, after Ulster were penalised at a scrum following a Toulon break deep in their own territory which had seen Gilroy kick for touch on the full without realising he had run the ball into his own 22.

This became 6-0 on 13 minutes when Halfpenny nailed his second penalty after Ulster were penalised for not releasing, but the hosts hit back on 20 minutes with Jackson’s first shot at goal after Louis Ludik was illegally wrapped up in a tackle.

Ulster began to exert some territorial squeeze on the European champions, who lost fly-half Matt Giteau to a leg injury after he had cleared from near his own line.

Just after the half-hour, Toulon moved a ball wide at pace from a line out and Halfpenny put Delon Armitage clear to dive over in the right corner, only for the final pass to be called forward.

Halfpenny made it 9-3 with two minutes of the half remaining after Ulster’s scrum again fell foul of referee Wayne Barnes, but the killer blow came right at the end of the half when Habana scorched over in the same corner as the earlier disallowed effort.

The TMO awarded the try after Toulon had injected pace into a sweeping move which went left and right. Halfpenny nailed a brilliant conversion and the visitors led 16-3 at half-time.

Ulster needed to score first after the sides resumed and Jackson narrowed the gap to 10 points after Delon Armitage was penalised for a high hit on Stuart Olding.

Halfpenny went wide with a 51st-minute penalty and four minutes later Jackson did the same, before Ulster’s inaccuracy led to the game’s decisive score, when Delon Armitage intercepted a Nick Williams pass and ran most of the length of the field to touchdown under the sticks.

Halfpenny’s conversion made it 23-6 to the French side, which effectively sealed the result. However, Ulster refused to wilt and, with three minutes remaining, Gilroy swept in for a consolation score after O’Connor had missed touch and Tommy Bowe and Jared Payne had countered.

Jackson drop-kicked the conversion to narrow the visitors’ lead to 23-13 and they saw out the remaining minute without Habana, who was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on. Ian Humphreys missed a penalty from halfway for a losing bonus, the kick falling short.