Humphries kicks Ulster to Bath victory

Ian Humphries kicked five penalties and a conversion in Ulster’s 22-18 victory over Bath at Ravenhill.

The visitors raced into a 15-3 lead with just over a quarter of the match but the 1999 Heineken Cup winners fought back and made it two wins from three in Pool 4.

A brace a mistakes from the hosts handed Bath two early tries, with Ian Humphreys’ interception and Adam D’Arcy’s misjudged catch giving Bath a dream start in Belfast.

Jack Cuthbert raced fully 80 minutes for the first on seven minutes, before England skipper Lewis Moody picked up superbly and then handed off Nigel Brady for the second 15 minutes later.

Those early setbacks may have unsettled the famous Ravenhill faithful but they didn’t have the same effect on their heroes in white.

Having dominated possession without reward, Ulster stuck to their task, scoring a try of their own when Predie Wannenburg intercepted on halfway with 34 minutes gone.

Fly-half Humphreys then narrowed the gap to just two points at half-time with a conversion and a second penalty and it was his boot that did the damage in the second period.

Again Ulster dominated proceedings after the break, this time without the mistakes that saw them concede points in the first period.

Although a 53rd minute penalty from Barkley made it 18-13 in Bath’s favour, three unanswered strikes from Humphreys saw Ulster record their third Heineken Cup win over today’s opponents in 14 months.

Final Score Ulster 22 (13) Bath 18 (15)

Scorers

Ulster
Tries: Wannenburg
Penalties: Humphreys 5
Conversions: Humphreys

Bath
Tries:Cuthbert, Moody
Penalties: Barkley 2
Conversions: Barkley

Referee: Jerome Garces (France)

Teams

Ulster Rugby: A D’Arcy, A Trimble, N Spence, P Wallace, S Danielli, I Humphreys, R Pienaar, T Court, N Brady, B Botha, J Muller [capt], D Tuohy, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg.

Replacements: A Kyriacou, P McAllister, B Young, T Barker, W Faloon, P Marshall, I Whitten, D McIlwaine

Bath Rugby: J Cuthbert, M Carraro, M Banahan, S Hape, T Biggs, S Vesty, M Claassens [capt], D Flatman, L Mears, D Wilson, S Hooper, D Grewcock, A Beattie, L Moody, S Taylor.