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Ulster’s poor season finale concluded at the Stade Ernest Wallon when a Cheslin Kolbe-inspired Toulouse emerged victorious 36-8 in the quarterfinals of today’s Heineken Champions Cup.
A week after losing to Leinster in the Pro14 final, they joined their Irish compatriot in the European fight after a total defeat on French soil.
Kolbe, South Africa’s World Cup winning winged magician, showed his class at the beginning and end of the first half when he twice entered Irish wing Jacob Stockdale to complete radical moves.
Their first attempt came after two and a half minutes when the four-time champions went into action in front of a local crowd of 5,000.
Wave after wave of attacks finally put Kolbe one-on-one with Stockdale and the Springbok came off his dynamic right foot to step inside his man and score the first of five attempts for Toulouse.
That marker came as Ulster center James Hulme was receiving attention after being brought down by a run from former Connacht center Pita Ahki.
Toulouse dominated territory and possession in the first quarter, but failed to convert their pressure into points.
It certainly helped Ulster as home side Thomas Ramos missed the conversion and then two more penalties after making it 8-0 with a penalty in the 14th minute.
Ulster showed four changes from the team that failed in Dublin the previous weekend, but welcomed scrum half John Cooney to the starting lineup.
Head coach Dan McFarland went with a 6-2 forward-to-running split on the bench and, after losing outside half Billy Burns to a calf strain in the first half, and center Stuart McCloskey after the change of course, they finished with a full-back at number 10 and a scrum-half on the wing.
But despite being hit with that lightning start, Ulster dug deep and a penalty from Cooney in the 26th minute put them back in the game. They also managed a series of line breaks, but were unable to craft the final pass for them to pay.
Kolbe showed off his graceful footwork once again as he edged out Stockdale for the second time and Ramos’s conversion made it 15-3 at the break. Three more attempts flowed in the second half and the lead increased to 33 points.
Two of the attempts were made with charge runs from center Sofiane Giteau, paving the way for prominent French scrum-half Antonie Dupont and Ramos to score. Ahki caught the other with a neat kick and chased the left sideline.
Cooney took advantage of a consolation attempt with nine minutes remaining for the visitors.
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