Bath come good in second half to overpower Ulster in the Champions Cup

Bath opened their Champions Cup campaign with an ultimately conclusive victory over Ulster at the Recreation Ground.

The foundations were laid by the Bath pack who overpowered their opponents in the second half, particularly in the scrum, as the home side recovered from a half-time deficit to claim the win.

Ulster had led 14-8 at the break through tries from Billy Burns and Nathan Doak but conceded three tries themselves in the last 10 minutes.

England wing Joe Cokanasiga touched down twice - once in the first half - and the other Bath tries went to Tom Dunn, Thomas du Toit and Matt Gallagher. Skipper Ben Spencer kicked two penalties and two conversions with another going to Orlando Bailey.

Both sides showed plenty of ambition early on, with Bath number eight Alfie Barbeary punching great holes in the visitors' first line of defence but there were no points on the board in a first quarter of thrust and counter-thrust.

Ulster had no problem finding the edges but too often threw a wild pass, either into touch or forward of the receiver.

Bath took time to sort out a misfiring lineout so they opted for a kick at goal rather than attempt a catch-and-drive after 15 minutes but Finn Russell's effort was wide.

Despite the presence of World Cup-winner Steven Kitshoff in the Ulster front row, Bath began to gain an edge in the scrum and that platform finally provided the opening score.

The Ulster pack buckled and Spencer threw a 30-metre scoring pass to Cokanasiga in the right corner.

Spencer could not convert but added a penalty five minutes later, but only after right wing Rob Baloucoune intervened twice to snuff out try-scoring opportunities.

A bizarre try then let Ulster back into the game as a loose ball rebounded off Ollie Lawrence's