Ulster lost ground in Heineken Cup Pool One as they were narrowly edged out by group leaders Stade Francais.
Despite an extremely brave performance they went down to a very shaky Stade side and the bonus they achieved will do them little good in a tight pool. David Humphreys scored all of Ulster's points in a very scrappy first half. In the end it was the boot of Diego Dominguez who won the day as he converted Arnaud Marchois's try and kicked two second-half penalties.
Defences were very much on top in the opening half, and it took a fluffed kick by Brian Liebenberg to allow Ulster to take a shock lead in the 12th minute. Stade were on the attack, but Humphreys was up quickly on his own 10-metre line to charge down the French international's kick, and the Ulsterman collected and sprinted in under the posts.
Humphreys converted his own try, but within two minutes Stade were level when a forward drive took lock Arnaud Marchois over with Dominguez converting. Ulster went ahead again in the 30th minute when Humphreys rifled over a long-range penalty. However, they had to withstand yet another tremendous response from the home side.
But a brilliantly organised Ulster defence held out as they took a 10-7 half-time advantage. It was the same on the resumption with Stade making in-roads, but Ulster frustrating the Frenchmen with some outstanding first-up defence.
However, Dominguez levelled in the 53rd minute with a penalty, and then six minutes later put his side ahead with a straightforward kick. Humphreys had a chance to level, but his long-range penalty drifted just wide.
For the final minutes, Stade killed the game by preventing Ulster from mounting a serious attack. Ulster never looked like winning their first game on French soil, but they certainly made the French Aristrocrats fight all the way.
Filed by Mark O'Neill-Cummins
