Castres 8 Ulster 9
Ulster improved their chances of a home tie in the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup with a scrappy 9-8 victory over Castres at Stade Pierre-Antoine.
Although not at their best, they came from behind to win, courtesy of three Ruan Pienaar penalties and now await results on Sunday to see if they will have home advantage in the last eight.
Castres had led early on thanks to a well-worked try from Piula Faasalele but it was Mark Anscombe’s side who took home the points.
Ulster, made four changes - plus two positional switches - to the startingteam that beat Glasgow 23-6 at Ravenhill last Friday, with Neil McComb, Roger Wilson, Paul Marshall and Michael Allen all coming into the side, while Ruan Pienaar moved to outhalf and Craig Gilroy took over at fullback for Jared Payne.
Their opponents - Castres - made eight, including an entire new back row.
It was Ulster’s first time to win on French soil and it also kept them in the mix for a home draw in Europe for the last eight - but that will be determined by results elsewhere on Sunday at Saracens and Leicester.
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