Ulster finish last after 22-26 defeat to Bordeaux Begles

Ulster 22-26 Bordeaux Begles, Kingspan Stadium
Scorecard

Ulster finished at the bottom after they were defeated 22-26 by Bordeaux Begles in their final European Champions Cup encounter at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday.

Despite, the win, Bordeaux Begles are also eliminated from the tournament after they failed to reach the top eight positions.

The French team came into the game needing a big bonus point victory and scrum-half Yann Lesgourgues gave a head start with a 11th minute try while Ian Madigan added the extras and scored a penalty to take them to 10-0 lead.

Seven minutes later, wing Andrew Trimble crossed over for Ulster to get them off the mark. Number eight Marco Tauleigne gave further advantage to the visitors when he went past the line in the 22nd minute but it was soon negated by Ulster lock Franco van der Merwe's 27th minute try.

After both Madigan and Paddy Jackson exchanged penalties, Bordeaux Begles went into half-time with a five-point lead. Jackson's penalty in the extra minutes of first half came as a result of sin-bin to Bordeaux's fullback Geoffrey Cros.

Ulster went into the lead for the first time in the game when centre Darren Cave scored their third try in the 58th minute followed by a conversion from Jackson. However, it was Bordeaux, who had the final laugh after replacement fly-half Simon Hickey scored back-to-back penalties in the 70th and 74th minutes to secure a thrilling four-point win for the Top 14 side.