Who would have said it? Who would have predicted it? An Ulster victory was not beyond the realm of possibility but a victory of this size! And to think that final score was the same score halfway through the match.

By half-time Ulster were home and hosed, leading an improbable 30-3, to the delight of their fans who in loyal expectations had gobbled up all the tickets for this match. There were visions of a massive, unprecedented hiding for the elegant French.

30-3! Against Toulouse - perennial rugby royalty of Europe.

What a day for a daydream at Ravenhill in Belfast. The red hand of Ulster stood up, stopped the French and then handed them off.

And then the second half passed without addition to the score.

Toulouse, already without young genius Frédéric Michalak, lost his replacement Jean-Frédéric Dubois early in the match, which did not help their cause but one man would not have been able to keep his finger in this dyke.

And the leaking started early. After Toulouse had had a careless beginning Ulster smashed through. Tommy Bowe made the running and sent young Andrew Trimble over in the corner, whence veteran David Humphreys converted. 7-0 after four minutes.

Ravenhill was a passionate place to be.

While Humphreys was controlling the play, his veteran opponent Dubois was not having a happy time, made worse by a bump to the head. Gareth Thomas came on to replace him with Courrent moving to flyhalf.

Humphreys kicked his side further ahead with two penalty goals, the first from 50 metres out. After 12 minutes the home side were 13-0 ahead.

A penalty by scrumhalf Valentin Courrent after Julian Harrison had been penalised for obstruction got Toulouse going but Ulster were buy no means finished even though it seemed that the French were recovering composure and then adding some rhythm to their play. A chip and chase by Vincent Clerc was promising.

Ulster's second try came as a shock when flank Neil Best threw a convincing dummy, accelerated and ran 20 metres of more to score at the posts. Humphreys converted.

Back came Ulster with a superb kick by Paul Steinmetz to take his side to five metres from the Toulouse line. Toulouse survived as Clément Poitrenaud broke out and then when Harrison again conceded a silly penalty they had a five-metre line-out. But at the scrum Courrent knocked on and Ulster was able to clear.

Trimble then got a second try when he cut in on  a perfect line to take a dabbed pass from Humphreys and slide through for a try. Again Humphreys converted.

Soon afterwards it was Harrison's turn to be the victim. Yannick Jauzion upended him in a spear tackle and Humphreys took the half-time score to 30-3 as Jauzion mooched off to the sin bin.

The second half started with a Toulouse attack and the return of Jauzion. For a while they had a full complement of players but then a tackle infringement earned Fabien _Pelous, playing No.8, a yellow card.

Ulster's whole intent now was the hunt for the bonus point. Kicks at goal did not matter. It was the fourth try that they wanted. While they repelled French attacks and had their chances, the Ulstermen were unable to get that fourth try.

After the first half's champagne, the second half was flat lager.

Scorers:

For Ulster:
Tries: Trimble 2, Boss
Cons: Humphreys 3
Pens: Humphreys 3

For Toulouse:
Pen: Courrent

Yellow cards: Jauzion (39, Toulouse, spear tackle), Pelous (52, Toulouse, deliberate tackle infringement), Fitzpatrick (65, Ulster, tackle infringement)

Ulster: 15 Bryn Cunningham, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Paul Steinmetz, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 David Humphreys, 9 Issac Boss, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Stephen Ferris, 6 Neil Best, 5 Matt McCullough, 4 Justin Harrison (capt), 3 Bryan Young, 2 Rory Best, 1 Justin Fitzpatrick.
Replacements: 16 Paul Shields, 17 Simon Best, 18 Tim Barker, 19 Kieron Dawson, 20 Kieran Campbell, 21 Kevin Maggs, 22 Andrew Maxwell. 

Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Xavier Garbajosa, 10 Jean-Frédéric Dubois, 9 Valentin Courrent, 8 Thierry Dusatoir, 7 Trevor Brennan, 6 Jean-François Montauriol, 5 Grégory Lamboley, 4 Romain Millo-Chlusky, 3 Salvatore Perugini, 2 Virgil Lacombe, 1 Daan Human.
Replacements: 16 Yannick Bru, 17 Stéphane Clement, 18 Patricio Albacete, 19 Jean Bouilhou, 20 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 21 Gareth Thomas, 22 Yohan Huget.

Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Touch judges: Martin Fox, Paul Dix (both England)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
Match commissioner: Michael Coghlan (Ireland)