Ulster lose to Lions despite Baloucoune hat-trick

Rugby World Cup

Lions (17) 49

Cons: Smith 4 Pens: Smith 2 Tries: Kotze, Keyter, Venter, Du Plessis, Van Wyk, Van Vuuren,

Ulster (19) 31

Rob Baloucoune’s superb hat-trick was not enough to stop Ulster falling to a first defeat of the season as the Lions hit seven tries to win a high-scoring Rugby World Cup encounter at Ellis Park.

Ulster led 19-17 at break thanks to Winger Baloucoune’s first two tries and a superb James Hume effort.

The Lions went over five times in an impressive second-half display to take the maximum five points, with Baloucoune scoring his third to earn a try bonus point for the Irish province.

After last week’s bonus-point victory over the Sharks in Durban, Ulster ended their South African tour with six points from two games, but they will now have their early-season momentum thwarted due to the heat and altitude of Johannesburg.

Without Jacob Stockdale, Stuart McCloskey, Iain Henderson, and Nick Timoney, who are on duty in Ireland, Ulster was forced to make a last-minute substitution after Juarno Augustus failed a late fitness test.

Bryn Ward, the South African’s debutant, was forced into a makeshift back row by the withdrawal, along with Tom Stewart, who unfortunately switched from hooker to open-side flanker.

With early tries from Michael Lowry and Werner Kok in Durban, Ulster set the tone for a powerful victory, but they found themselves battling with the Lions as SJ Kotze and Eduan Keyter crossed the line for the hosts on either side of Baloucoune’s opening try.

Under Mark Sexton’s direction, Ulster have shown more expressive in attack this season, and the visitors showed creativity and cutting edge to bring level level once more through Hume.

When Asenathi Ntlabakanye was sent off for a high tackle on Jude Postlethwaite, the Lions won thanks to Chris Smith’s 33rd-minute penalty, which was reduced to 14 men.

After a protracted spell of pressure in the final few minutes of the first half, Ulster took the lead for the first time when Baloucoune collected Murphy’s pass.

Baloucoune, who has suffered injuries for the past two seasons, was not employed there. After Hume’s clever chip and chase propelled Ulster up the field, the Ireland international raced over for his third after Ruan Venter’s re-established the Lions’ lead.

Renzo du Plessis and Ulster back row Dave McCann traded tries, but Henco van Wyk scored before Conrad van Vuuren’s late double put a life on the line to sink the away team’s hopes of a South African clean sweep.

Richie Murphy, head coach for Ulster, lamented his team’s error rate after the game.

In the end, he said, “We’re in that game for 55, 60 minutes and let it get away from us.”

Our error count was probably too high throughout the game, and we merely invited the Lions in.

It’s a massive effort from the players in a very difficult situation, 28 or 29 degrees at altitude, but Scrum dominance from them puts us under a lot of pressure.

Murphy continued, “Unbelievable,” on Baloucoune’s hat-trick. The back three contain a wealth embarrassment. Mikey [Lowry] is flying, Werner [Kok] has been really good, and Zac [Ward] has been on fire.

Brandon, Schoeman, van der Vuuren, Landsberg, du Plessis, L Horn, Lombard, Mpeku are the replacements.

Sin-bin: Ntlabakanye (27)

Lowry, Baloucoune, Hume, Postlethwaite, Postlethwaite, Z Ward, Murphy, Doak, Crean, Herring (capt), O’Toole, Sheridan, Hopes, McCann, Stewart, B Ward, and Ulster.

McCormick, Reid, Wilson, Dalton, Rea, McKee, Flannery, Kok, and more.