Ulster are headed to the last-16 of the Champions Cup by the skin of their teeth after Bordeaux-Begles did them a favour by hammering the Cell C Sharks in their final pool game to set up a knockout clash in April.
Richie Murphy’s side had done their bit with a 52-24 win over Exeter Chiefs on Friday night for their first win of the pool stages, taking them level on points with the fourth-placed Sharks.
However, they still needed Bordeaux to do them a favour by not only limiting the Sharks to less than four tries but also to win by more than 28 points to give Ulster a better points differential.
At half-time it looked like that wasn’t on, with the French side only seven points ahead thanks to Damian Penaud’s hat-trick and the South Africans battling gamely at the Stade Chaban-Delmas.
But in the second half Bordeaux came through for Murphy’s men, running in 47 unanswered points in a 66-12 rout that comfortably sees the province into the knockouts in April.
Their reward, though, is a trip to Bordeaux on the weekend of April 4/5/6, which will test Ulster to the extreme given not only did they lose their pool meeting at Ravenhill last month but their hosts are one of the favourites to win the competition.