Ulster beat Bath to reach European Champions Cup quarter-final

Ulster secured their spot in the European Champions Cup quarter finals after beating Bath 22-15 at Kingspan Stadium.

They went into this final Pool fixture knowing victory would make sure of their place in the last 8, while the visitors were already eliminated from the competition.

Any nerves were settled by an early try that came on the back of a 7th minute maul from a lineout. It put Ulster on the Bath line, and the defence was powerless to stop Marcell Coetzee from crashing over from close range to open the scoring, with John Cooney slotting the extras.

Bath then levelled in the 19th when Ruaridh McConnochie gathered a cross-field kick to finish after an awkward bounce had wrong-footed Jacob Stockdale. Billy's brother Freddy Burns kicked the conversion, but Bath's good mood didn't last too long, as they went down to fourteen men three minutes later.

Marcell Coetzee had broken for Ulster on a searing run with John Cooney on his inside shoulder running the support line, but the scrum half was shoved to the ground by Tom Ellis who earnt himself a deserved yellow card for a cynical piece of defending.

The dull first half was quickly forgotten about after the break, with Ulster scoring their second try within 90 seconds of the restart.

Will Addison showed good feet to break the line before feeding Robert Baloucoune, who dived into the corner to score. Cooney nailed the conversation from the touchline, but Freddy Burns stroked over a penalty in reply on 47 to make it 14-10.

However, less than a minute later Addison broke down the Bath left just outside the 22, powering past would-be tacklers to reach for the corner and finish to give Ulster a 9-point lead.

The visitors reduced the deficit in the 67th minute with replacement hooker Ross Batty crossing after good work by the forwards, and perhaps sparked Ulster back into life, reminding them that their lead was far from solid.

The home side looked to have secured the bonus point in the 69th minute, but Kieran Treadwell's try was chalked off due to a forward pass in the build-up.

Bath try-scorer Batty was then shown a straight red card in the 73rd minute for a dangerous tackle on Cooney, and Billy Burns took the chance to kick a penalty to create a 7-point gap between the sides and seal the win.