Match Reports

Match Report | Ulster 49 Zebre 3

19th March 2021
Ulster claimed a bonus-point victory after defeating Zebre by 49 points to 3 at Kingspan Stadium on Friday night. The visitors enjoyed a spell of territory and possession in the opening minutes, looking to test the Ulster defence aerially and with ball in hand, but to no avail. Ulster’s first chance came when Robert Baloucoune showed great hands in collecting a kick over the top from John Cooney; David McCann made good ground and tried to get the offload away but the ball drifted just forward. Ulster first got on the scoreboard through John Andrew, who crashed over for his seventh try in the Guinness PRO14 this season. John Cooney fired over the conversion to put Ulster 7-0 up. The visitors responded immediately, however, with a Paolo Pescetto penalty. The second quarter of the game was a little loose as both sides had opportunities scuppered by both handling errors and solid defence, but in the 34th minute, replacement hooker Marco Manfredi was shown a red card by referee, Andrew Brace, for making contact with John Cooney’s head with his elbow. There was a stoppage for a few minutes as the referee had to consult with the Zebre management team to check if they could field a front row to compete in the scrum. They couldn’t and so it went to uncontested scrums for the rest of the game. Ulster soon got their second try of the evening, with the youthful back line going through the hands to send Michael Lowry in at the corner. John Cooney was on-target for the conversion. Ulster struck just two minutes into the second half, with Robert Baloucoune racing through to dot down, and Cooney slotted the two. The bonus point try came almost immediately after, with John Cooney setting the move in motion by going on the kick-chase, and Jordi Murphy was the man to pick up and cross the line for Ulster. Cooney made no mistake with the extras. Despite being down to 13, Zebre managed to frustrate Ulster at times, keeping them pinned inside their own half for the next ten minutes, but Ulster’s dominant pack and maul soon got reward, with Jordi Murphy powering over to claim his second try. Lowry took over the kicking duties after Cooney was replaced and he landed the conversion. Ulster began to turn the screw, when Michael Lowry made an inch-perfect cross-field kick to Rob Lyttle, who still had a lot to do but his jinking step made his score look easy. Lowry made it two from two conversions. The game finished with a flourish as Brad Roberts bagged his first Ulster try, showing great pace to go in under the posts, and Lowry landed the extras. Ulster end the regular Guinness PRO14 season with 14 wins in 16 games. Full-time score: Ulster 49 Zebre 3

WORTH ANOTHER LOOK

PLAYER OF THE MATCH

SCORERS

Ulster Tries: John Andrew, Michael Lowry, Robert Baloucoune, Jordi Murphy (2), Rob Lyttle, Brad Roberts Cons: John Cooney (4), Michael Lowry (3) Zebre Pens: Paolo Pescetto

LINE-UPS

Ulster Ethan McIlroy, Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Stewart Moore, Rob Lyttle, Michael Lowry, John Cooney; Eric O’Sullivan, John Andrew, Marty Moore, Cormac Izuchukwu, Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, Jordi Murphy (CAPT), David McCann. Replacements: Brad Roberts, Callum Reid, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Matty Rea, David Shanahan, Ian Madigan, Ben Moxham. Zebre Gabriele Di Giulio, Pierre Bruno, Jamie Elliott, Tommaso Boni, Giovanni D'Onofrio, Paolo Pescetto, Joshua Renton; Paolo Buonfiglio, Massimo Ceciliani, Matteo Nocera, Mick Kearney, Ian Nagle, Iacopo Bianchi, Lorenzo Masselli, Potu Junior Leavasa. Replacements: Marco Manfredi, Daniele Rimpelli, Eduardo Bello, Leonard Krumov, Charles Alaimalo, Nicolò Casilio, Guglielmo Palazzani, Antonio Rizzi.

SOCIAL MEDIA REACTION

WHERE WE STAND

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