Rugby - Ulster 32 Treviso 13:It was a game of two halves at a rain-soaked Ravenhill where Ulster all but secured a bonus point win by half-time against Treviso, but the niggling concern for Brian McLaughlin's side was they never brought the same intensity into the second half of this Magners League encounter.

That said Ulster ended their two-game losing run over the festive period with the valuable bonus-point win over the Italian outfit to keep them in touch with the top four in the Magners League.

Tries from Ruan Pienaar, Nevin Spence, Adam D'Arcy and Rory Best in an impressive first 34 minutes gave Ulster a commanding position in dreadful conditions.

But McLaughlin will hardly be pleased that his charges failed to score a single point in a second-half display which saw them largely on the back foot and conceding a converted try to the Italians.

Returning outhalf Ian Humphreys contributed 12 points with the boot and Stephen Ferris also came through well as a second-half replacement for a win which keeps Ulster sixth in the table.

After an early exchange of penalties, Ulster opted to take a quick throw from a long Treviso drop out with Humphreys' throw launching Andrew Trimble on a powerful run up the right wing.

The Ireland international linked with Willie Faloon and then quick hands from Best allowed Pienaar to scamper over the line for a great counter-attacking score. Humphreys added the conversion.

Willem De Waal then slotted Treviso's second penalty but, from there, Ulster continued to push on. With a little more than 20 minutes gone, Humphreys kicked a penalty from the halfway line via the upright and this seemed to spur the home side on to greater deeds with ball in hand.

Ulster's second try duly arrived after they had moved the ball right on the narrow side, Humphreys changing the angle of attack with an inside pass to D'Arcy that cut Treviso wide open.

The fullback threw an ambitious pass to Spence who failed to collect but kicked the ball at Kristopher Burton. The Treviso fullback missed it and the undoubtedly surprised Spence pounced to score near the posts.

Again Humphreys kicked the extras and did so again four minutes before the half hour when Ulster managed their third score when Trimble's burst put Pienaar in space and, though the Springbok checked instead of taking Andrew Vilk on the outside, Ulster recycled and D'Arcy dived over at the posts.

At 27-6, the bonus point looked inevitable and it came six minutes before half-time when Best scored from a lineout drive in the left corner.

With Pienaar taken off at half-time, more as precaution after receiving a knock, and Ferris introduced early in the second half, Ulster nevertheless lost some of their momentum - understandable perhaps on the back of their 32-6 half time lead.

Treviso managed to rumble Gonzalo Pedro over the line on 48 minutes and De Waal's conversion made it 32-13 to the home side.

Ulster then allowed an element of sloppiness to creep into their game, exemplified by a poor piece of play from Simon Danielli which allowed Treviso to lay siege to the home side's line.

The loss of Trimble to an apparent knock on the thigh also did not help the home side's cause and with Treviso bringing on an entirely fresh front row, the Italians managed to get on top.

Only some great defensive work from Chris Henry saved two scores - the latter when Fabio Semenzato was actually over the line late in the game - but Henry and Dan Tuohy managed to prevent the touchdown.

Ulster:Adam D'Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Nevin Spence, Paddy Wallace, Simon Danielli, Ian Humphreys, Ruan Pienaar, Tom Court, Rory Best, BJ Botha, Johann Muller, Tim Barker, Chris Henry, Willie Faloon, Pedrie Wannenburg. Replacements:  Nigel Brady, Bryan Young, Declan Fitzpatrick, Dan Tuohy, Stephen Ferris, Paul Marshall, Ian Whitten, David McIlwaine

Benetton Treviso:Chris Burton,  Ludovico Nitoglia, Tommaso Benvenuti, Alberto Sgarbi, Andy Vilk, Willem de Waal, Fabio Semenzato, Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Lorenzo Cittadini, Gonzalo Padro', Corniel van Zyl, Marco Filippucci, Alessandro Zanni, Manoa Vosawai. Replacements: Franco Sbaraglini, Augusto Allori, Pedro di Santo,  Valerio Bernabo', Paul Derbyshire, Francesco Minto, Tobie Botes, Gonzalo Garcia