TALK ABOUT MOMENTUM. The fortnight before Ulster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Saracens was a perfect storm of ever-rising positivity.
Ireland had a trophy, Stephen Ferris had smashed his way back on to a rugby field, Tommy Bowe had recovered from his groin problem, Ruan Pienaar’s shoulder was supposed to be grand.
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And the new Ravenhill? Well you could still smell the fresh paint at kick-off.
They were queueing before the gates opened, a fine film of builder’s dust coated some of the smoother concrete floors outside and in the press room we unwrapped cables to plug in and go online.
A fresh new stadium and a home side with a thirst for revenge. What could possible go wrong?
Well, a few things actually.
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Perhaps it was rank disappointment, disbelief or because I’m just a little bit colour blind, but it took a few seconds to register the true colour of the card shown to Jared Payne. Held up in the floodlit evening air, the red shone like a flare inviting the Wolf Pack to come down and eat their fill.
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Perhaps even more remarkable than the performance of the 14 men in the face of a formidable Saracens side was the captain and star winger pouring their heart out in the post-match press conference. Johann Muller and Tommy Bowe were drained men. There were no tears, not here at least, just a flat numb appraisal of their own personal rock bottom.
There was no room for a straight bat and no energy for a hollow ’come back stronger.’ Not this time.
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“Massively proud,” agreed Muller to the leading question, “but at the end of the day; it’s going to haunt us for the rest of our lives because that’s a massive one that got away from us.”
“It’s my last Heineken Cup game, obviously it’s going to be emotional. The way that it happened, that’s not the way that I dreamed about. If we lost fair and square I could have taken it, but to lose in the way that we did hurts, it really does.”
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Tommy Bowe mourned the passing of ‘one of the best opportunities’ Ulster would ever have to win a second European Cup. Press fast forward for the end of the era and the exit of Muller, Tom Court, John Afoa, Paddy Wallace and Ferris – who played his final 25 minutes of rugby as Ulster threw the kitchen sink at Saracens only to be picked off by Charlie Hodgson and Chris Ashton.
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It’s a game that will forever be remembered for the red card shown to Payne, but let’s not get into it. Instead, it’s a game I remember for the incredible performance from an Ulster side stripped not only of a 15th man, but also (through injury) their talismanic hooker, scrum-half and Player of the Six Nations, Andrew Trimble.
15 – 17 is the only fact that mattered, but it really doesn’t tell half the story.
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