Cohen seizes chance to leave Ulster out in cold

Ulster 16 Northampton 13

Northampton last night progressed to the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup despite losing 16-13 to Ulster at Ravenhill. A try by the England international Ben Cohen early in the second half was enough to edge the 2000 champions through as Pool Six winners on a superior try-count, despite finishing level on points with Ulster.

Ulster, champions in 1999, who went into the game needing to win by four clear tries to top the pool, might have pushed the Saints much closer had they made more use of the lion's share of possession they enjoyed in the first half.

Ulster began at a ferocious pace, but strangely, given their need for tries, David Humphreys chose to kick two long-range penalties instead of going for attacking line-outs. To make matters worse, he missed both. Ulster continued to dominate and, in the 22nd minute, the flanker Neil McMillan found the breakthrough, touching down under the posts after a break from Neil Doak. Humphreys added the conversion.

Northampton, starved of possession, needed a foothold and a mistake at an Ulster line-out allowed Matt Dawson to launch a series of raids which led to a penalty by Paul Grayson in the 26th minute. Back came Ulster and they could have added a second try if the right wing, James Topping, had been able to hold the pass.

Ulster started the second period as they had done the first, but it was Northampton who landed the killer blow. Cohen brushed off the tackles of Sheldon Coulter and Bryn Cunningham on the blind side to score in the 46th minute. Grayson converted.

Ulster, to their credit, fought back. Humphreys levelled the scores with a drop goal in the 51st minute and, two minutes later, the visitors were reduced to 14 men when Cohen was sent to the sin-bin for a foul. Then, on Cohen's return, Grayson edged the visitors in front again with his second penalty in the 68th minute. Doak knocked over the penalty to level the scores before Humphreys sealed the win with his second drop goal deep in injury time.

Ulster: Try MacMillan; Conversion Humphreys; Penalty Doak; Drop goals Humphreys 2. Northampton: Try Cohen; Conversion Grayson; Penalties Grayson 2.

Ulster: B Cunningham; J Topping, Constable, Stewart, Coulter; Humphreys, Doak; Kempson, Sexton, S Best, Longwell, Davidson, Ward, McMillen, McWhirter.

Northampton: Beal; Brooks, Jorgensen, Leslie, Cohen; Grayson, Dawson; Smith, Thompson, Morris, Williams, Hunter, Seely, Soden, Connors.

Referee: J Dome (France).