Benetton Trevison 9 Ulster 19:DESPITE MISSING several internationals, Ian Humphreys' kicking skills guided Ulster to victory at the Stadio Comunale last night. However, Brian McLaughlin's men will feel aggrieved to be denied the bonus point after a bizarre decision by Italian television match official Mauro Dordolo when fullback Adam D'Arcy was adjudged to have knocked on the grounding of Humphreys' grubber.
Despite being without Irish internationals Andrew Trimble, Stephen Ferris and Rory Best, and former Springbok captain Johann Muller injured, while Ruan Pienaar will feature for South Africa against England this afternoon, Ulster made it two Magners League victories in November.
The driving rain and water-logged surface contributed to some early unforced handling errors by Humphreys and Pedrie Wannenburg.
The only score in the opening quarter came from a Willem de Waal penalty from the left side but scrumhalf Tobias Botes was less successful, missing two kicks from the opposite side.
On 20 minutes, Humphreys atoned for a shaky start with a perfectly weighted chip to the right corner that allowed Ulster’s young winger Craig Gilroy slide in for the opening try. Humphreys added a touchline conversion.
Despite de Waal slotting another penalty, Ulster were not long exploiting the defensive frailties of the Italians when Simon Danielli gathered a clever box kick by Paul Marshall to race in unopposed at the left corner.
Humphreys added two points with another difficult conversion.
That’s how it stayed until the break but Ulster had the victory sown up in the early exchanges of the second half. Tim Barker was held up just shy of the line off quality lineout possession before Humphreys again exposed the naïve Treviso defence out wide with a cross-field punt that Gilroy gathered for his fourth try in two games
The outhalf grazed the upright with the conversion but at 19-6 the win seemed secure.
After the D’Arcy touchdown was deemed illegal, the momentum swung back to Treviso when Willie Faloon was sin binned and Botes kicked the resultant penalty just as captain Chris Henry was forced off following a clash of heads with Paddy McAllister.
Botes’ poor kicking return meant Treviso failed to make any further inroads despite the numerical advantage.
Scoring sequence: 5 mins: W de Waal pen, 0-3; 20: C Gilroy try, 5-3; I Humphreys con, 7-3; 28: W de Waal pen, 7-6; 32: S Danielli try, 12-6; I Humphreys con, 14-6. Half-time. 45: C Gilroy try, 19-6; 58: T Botes pen, 19-9.
ULSTER: A D’Arcy; C Gilroy, D Cave, P Wallace, S Danielli; I Humphreys, P Marshall; B Young, N Brady, BJ Botha; T Barker, D Tuohy; P Wannenburg, W Faloon, C Henry (capt). Replacements: I Whitten for D Cave (54 mins), P McAllister for B Young (59 mins), N McComb for C Henry (59 mins), A Kyriacou for N Brady (74 mins).
BENETTON TREVISO: K Burton; L Nitoglia, A Pratichetti, G Garcia, J Maddock; W De Waal, T Botes; I Rouyet, E Ceccato, P Di Santo; A Pavenello (capt), C Van Zyl; F Minto, V Bernabo, M Filippucci.
Referee: G Knox (SRU).
