Ulster never looked like defeating an extremely powerful and well-drilled Toulouse side at a noisy Stade Les Sept Deniers, but for reasons known only to themselves they managed to hand the French hotshots most of their points on a plate.

No wonder it left coach Harry Williams fuming. They had worked tiggerishly in the opening stages to hold the potential European Cup champions to a slender 13-3 half-time advantage. But courage wasn't enough as schoolboy errors allowed four simplistic tries to be run in during the second period.

"I was bitterly disappointed at the final result," said Williams. "We made so many stupid errors. We knew we had to make as few turnovers as possible, but instead of holding on to the ball and restarting, we just handed possession to them. It was all very frustrating."

It was dangerous full-back Stephane Ougier who got the ball rolling with a penalty after 26 minutes, and soon after they were 13-0 ahead. First Yann Delaigue knocked over a penalty after the Ulster three-quarters had encroached, and then a defensive faux paux following a line-out allowed the same player to flip a pass to right wing Emile Ntamack to sprint in unopposed under the posts.

Simon Mason then slotted over a 37-metre penalty for Ulster to take his total to 102 points for the season.

Ulster's fringe tackling was hard and effective, with flanker Stephen McKinty very much to the fore. But, under extreme pressure, the mistakes started to creep in.

Scoring sequence: 26 min: Ougier penalty (3-0); 31: Delaigue penalty (6-0); 36: Ntamack try, Delaigue conversion (13-0); 40: Mason penalty (13-3); 51: Debrosses try, Delaigue conversion (20-3); 63: Marfaing try, Ougier conversion (27-3); 65: Ntamack try (32-3); 80: Lapoutge try, Ougier conversion (39-3).

Ulster: S Mason; S Coulter, J Bell, C van Rensburg (S Bell, 72), J Cunningham (S McDowell, 43); D Humphreys (capt), A Matchett; J Fitzpatrick, R Weir, G Leslie (R Irwin, 63), G Longwell, M Rea (M Blair, 76), S McKinty, T McWhirter (S Duncan, 55), D Macartney.

Toulouse: S Ougier; E Ntamack (P Lapoutge, 65), P Bondouy, C Desbrosses, M Marfaing; Y Delaigue, J Cazalbou (capt) (J Fillol, 65); F Tournaire, Y Bru (P Soula, 67), J-L Jordana (Mafutuna, 75), H Miorin, F Belot, D Lacroix, N Spanghero (S Moulucou, 76), C Labit.

Referee: D Bevan (Wales).