Ulster 33 Zebre 13
Ulster did what was expected of them on their first outing at home by producing a bonus point victory to keep things ticking along nicely following on from last week’s high scoring draw at the Scarlets.
Though they were at times a bit sluggish, Ulster turned on the after-burners when it mattered to score five tries - from Nick Williams, Craig Gilroy, Robbie Diack, Andrew Trimble and Dan Tuohy - and register a second consecutive bonus point result which should keep interim coach Les Kiss reasonably happy. They even survived having Ricky Andrew yellow carded in the second half for upending Brendon Leonard in mid-air, which could easily have been red.
With Kiss’s impending departure having been floated and much talk and rumour of the new coaching structure to be revealed some time over the next couple of weeks, this was as good a time as any to show how well things have been going and, indeed, it all started according to plan.
Even though Rory Best will not enjoy watching back his knock-on of Darren Cave’s pass just when all he had to do was collect and score, Ulster won the scrum on Zebre’s line against the head and Williams scored a trademark try by smashing his way over.
Ian Humphreys converted and Ulster were 7-0 to the good after only four minutes. But the Italians then hit back with replacement Samuela Vunisa getting over three minutes later, with Kelly Haimona tying the scores with the conversion.
Things then took another turn for the worse as Darren Cave hobbled off on his first game back this season which was closely followed by Humphreys missing a straightforward penalty.
But then, out of nothing, Trimble chipped and collected the bouncing ball and after Ulster put width on the ball Gilroy crossed over on the left and, once the TMO gave the nod, Humphreys added a great conversion to make it 14-10.
That became 19-10 nine minutes later when Ricky Andrew’s pass put Diack clear to score though Humphreys failed to convert.
Haimona then had a chance to narrow Ulster’s lead but missed a long range penalty and Ulster were denied a try from substitute Louis Ludik - on for the injured Cave - after the scoring pass was adjudged forward.
The Italians survived another late Ulster onslaught and the half ended with the home side leading 19-10 and looking eager to nail down the bonus point try.
They began the second half defending their line and then had to make do with 14 men on the 55th minute after Andrew was yellow carded for hitting Leonard when the Zebre scrumhalf was in mid-air.
Still, Ulster had the wherewithal to score when, off a scrum, Paul Marshall broke right and fed Trimble who stormed in at the right corner for Ulster’s bonus point score with Humphreys adding a superb conversion to take the score to 26-10.
And just before Andrew returned, came the score of the night, when Humphreys superbly gathered a ball on the touchline and launched Trimble through the middle. He linked with Best and with the ball recycled, Humphreys chipped for Tuohy to score.
Humphreys then added yet another excellent conversion to take Ulster’s lead to 33-10 which became 33-13 with 10 minutes to go as Haimona kicked a second penalty.
Despite replacement Stuart Olding coming close to scoring at the death, the scoreboard stayed unchanged
Ulster: R Andrew; A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, P Marshall; A Warwick, R Best (capt), W Herbst, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, R Diack, C Henry, N Williams. Replacements: L Ludik for D Cave 10mins; F van der Merwe for L Stevenson 53mins; R Wilson for C Henry 57mins; R Murphy for A Warwick 60mins; R Herring for R Best and S Olding for L Marshall 66mins; B Ross for W Herbst and M Heaney for P Marshall both 68mins
Zebre: H Daniller, D Odiete, G Bisegni, G Garcia (capt), G Toniolatti, K Haimona, B Leonard; A De Marchi, O Fabiani, D Chistolini, A Ferreira, G Biagi, M Bergamasco, F Cristiano, A Van Schalkwyk. Replacements : S Vunisa for A Van Schalkwyk 5mins; O Fabiani for A Manici and Q Geldenhuys for A Ferreira both half-time; E Padovani for G Garcia 52mins; A Lovotti for A De Marchi 54mins; G Palazzani for B Leonard 57mins; V Bernabo for G Biagi 59mins; L Leibson for D Chistolini 63mins Referee: L Hodges (WRU)
