Ulster Rugby 22
Zebre 7
Adam McKendry reports from Kingspan Stadium
THE CONDITIONS PLAYED their part, but once again Ulster flattered to deceive as they battled to a 22-7 victory over Italian side Zebre at Kingspan Stadium to start the season with four wins from five.
Despite controlling most of the play, particularly in the second half, Ulster couldn’t break down a stern Zebre defence to take the extra point on offer in the driving Belfast rain, even with the visitors reduced to 14 men on two occasions in the second half.
The win does move Dan McFarland’s side up to second in Conference A of the Guinness Pro14, with David Shanahan, Robert Lyttle and a penalty try accounting for their tally, while winger Mattia Bellini struck for the Italians.
The start was far from ideal as Ulster failed to catch the opening kick-off and within 90 seconds found themselves behind, scrum-half Guglielmo Palazzani – a late replacement for Marcello Violi – flicking a reverse pass to Bellini who went under the posts.
The horror start nearly became a nightmare when Oliviero Fabiani charged down an attempted clearance kick from Shanahan, only for it to skid beyond the dead ball line first, and then Ulster had to deal with the early departure of full-back Will Addison with an arm injury.
But they did draw level at the midway point of the first half, Marcell Coetzee flinging a brilliant offload to Luke Marshall for the centre to break the line, and he had scrum-half Shanahan on his shoulder to carry it under the posts.
Fly-half Bill Johnston, making his first competitive start at Kingspan Stadium, converted the try and then sent Ulster in ahead at the interval when he kicked a penalty.
The hosts thought they had a score early in the second half when Rob Herring scooped up a loose line-out and surged over, only for the TMO to call it back correctly when the replays showed Kieran Treadwell clearly blocked Maxime Mbanda to create a path for the hooker to go through.
However, Ulster wouldn’t have to wait long for a score and it came when Zebre never got to grips with a driving maul from the Irish province, and when lock Ian Nagle – formerly of Ulster – hauled it down as it was going over the line, he was sent to the sin bin and the referee went under the posts for a penalty try.
Although they couldn’t make the most of Nagle’s sin-binning, Ulster did get over for their third try when Giovanni Licata saw yellow for repeated maul infringements and Johnston kicked cross-field for Lyttle to dive over in the corner.
However they couldn’t find the fourth try in the final 10 minutes, Zebre’s maul defence coming up big one last time to drive a late surge from Ulster into touch, ending their hopes of getting the extra point.
Ulster scorers: Tries: Shanahan, Penalty, LyttleConversionss: Johnston [1 from 2], PenaltyPenalties: Johnston [1 from 1]Zebre scorers:Try: Bellini
Conversion: Canna [1 from 1]
ULSTER RUGBY: Will Addison (Craig Gilroy 17); Louis Ludik (Angus Curtis 52), Matt Faddes, Luke Marshall, Robert Lyttle; Bill Johnston, David Shanahan (John Cooney 72); Jack McGrath (Kyle McCall 72), Rob Herring (Adam McBurney 72), Tom O’Toole (Ross Kane 72); Alan O’Connor (Sam Carter 55), Kieran Treadwell; Matthew Rea, Nick Timoney (Sean Reidy 52), Marcell Coetzee.
ZEBRE: Junior Laloifi (Joshua Renton 61); Charlie Walker, Jamie Elliott, Tommaso Boni (Enrico Lucchin 55), Mattia Bellini; Carlo Canna, Guglielmo Palazzani; Danilo Fischetti (Daniele Rimpelli 65), Oliviero Fabiani (Luca Bigi 50), Giosue Zilocchi (Eduardo Bello 59); Ian Nagle, George Biagi (Leonard Krumov 52); Maxime Mbanda, Giovanni Licata, Renato Giammarioli.
Yellow cards: Ian Nagle (54′), Giovanni Licata (70′)
Man of the Match: Luke Marshall (Ulster)
Referee: Sam Grove-White [SCO]
It’s Rugby World Cup final week! On the latest episode of The42 Rugby Weekly, Murray Kinsella joins Gavan Casey and Sean Farrell to preview Saturday’s showdown between England and South Africa.
