By Neil Carnduff
This afternoon in Northern Italy Ulster did just enough to craft a victory against a spirited Treviso outfit, with converted tries from Darren Cave and Robbie Diack edging out 12 points from the boot of Matt Berquist.
Deprived of half-a-dozen regular starters unavailable through injury or away on international duty, Ulster nonetheless displayed the requisite strength in depth to overcome a highly-motivated Treviso side still smarting from their 75 – 7 humiliation at the hands of the Ospreys a week previously.
The win is an important result for Mark Anscombe’s men, as it elevates them to third in the RaboDirect Pro12 table, and keeps them in strong contention for a semi-final play-off place with eight games remaining.
As the game began under blazing winter sunshine at the Stadio di Monigo, Berquist screwed a second-minute penalty well wide of the posts, but Treviso maintained some good early pressure to force another penalty at the breakdown, and the New Zealander atoned for his earlier miss with a central kick on six minutes.
Poor lineout organisation from Ulster then gifted possession back to the Italians for a time, but the visitors rapidly regained possession and put together their first truly fluent move on 10 minutes, both Jared Payne and Paul Marshall getting close to the line before Roger Wilson, acting as a makeshift scrum-half, picked out Cave eight metres from home. The centre, also on target in Ulster’s last Pro12 encounter against the Ospreys, effortlessly eluded the somewhat flat-footed Treviso captain Antonio Pavanello to dip over for the try, duly converted by Pienaar.
With Treviso’s early phase of domination now seemingly consigned to history, Ulster continued to turn the screw, capitalising on an overthrow at the home lineout with an exquisite crossfield kick from Pienaar picking out Craig Gilroy on the right wing. The Ireland international did well to collect and charge, eventually grounded just short of the line by a muscular tackle which caused him to knock on.
Cave was again instrumental in Ulster’s next try-scoring chance, picking up on half –way and outstripping four or five retreating Italians before kicking on 10 metres from home for Michael Allen to chase. The tracking Andrea Pratichetti did well, however, to hare down on the ball just ahead of his opposite number and touch down behind his own line.
Ulster closed out the first period deep in Treviso territory, Luke Marshall making good ground down the right wing until another knock-on called time on the half.
Half-Time Score Benetton Treviso 3 Ulster 7
With Tom Court making way for Callum Black at the interval, an early steal at the Treviso lineout came to nothing due to yet another knock-on – Rob Herring this time the culprit – and the hosts were soon within a solitary point of Ulster, as Berquist slotted over from wide on the left after Wilson had infringed at the maul.
Ulster pilfered possession once again at the next Treviso lineout, and with a penalty looming in their favour, Diack broke the defensive line with an acutely-angled run from just inside the ‘22’ and powered past Brendan Williams to touch down his fourth try of the season – his second against Treviso this term. Pienaar converted once more, but the persistent Berquist again kept his side in touch with a penalty just before the hour-mark.
With young back Rory Scholes impressing on the wing as he made his bow for Allen, Ulster continued to do just enough to keep the Italians at a comfortable distance, soaking up a good eight minutes of pressure until the award of a penalty allowed Pienaar to clear deep into the Treviso half. They did little with the ball from the lineout, however and Treviso snaffled possession to clear.
Berquist chalked up his fourth penalty of the encounter with 10 minutes remaining, setting up a tense closing salvo with the Italians a mere penalty away from the prospect of a narrow but well-earned victory. Strong carrying from Wilson on the back of a rolling maul got Ulster deep into the Treviso half, but illegal blocking from the visiting forwards surrendered possession once again, allowing Berquist to clear deep into Ulster territory.
Within decent range for a penalty or drop-goal attempt with two minutes remaining, Treviso were frustrated by a marginal knock-on between their forwards, and Ulster were able to scrummage their way to the cusp of the 80-minute mark. With the clock well into the red, Treviso tried in vain to launch one final raid, the match brought to an end as the Italians desperately held on too long in the tackle.
Full-Time Score Benetton Treviso 12 Ulster 14
Treviso (15 – 9) B Williams; L Nitoglia, A Sgarbi, E Bacchin, A Pratichetti; M Berquist, F Semenzato; M Muccignat (1 – 8) M Muccignat, F Sbaraglin, I Fernandez-Rouyet; A Pavanello (c), V Bernabo; M Vosawai, M Swanepoel, M Filippucci
Replacements (16 – 23) E Ceccato, G Maistri, R Acosta, C Van Zyl, E Lubian, A Lucchese, J Van Niekerk, Alberto Di Bernardo
Ulster (15 – 9) J Payne; C Gilroy, D Cave, L Marshall, M Allen; R Pienaar, P Marshall; (1 - 8) T Court, R Herring, R Lutton; J Muller (c), L Stevenson; R Diack, S Doyle, R Wilson.
Replacements (16 – 23) N Annett, C Black, A Macklin, N McComb, M McComish, M Heaney, R Andrew, R Scholes