Match Reports

Report | Ulster 36 Zebre 15

26th November 2022
Ulster return to action in the BKT United Rugby Championship with a bonus point victory over Zebre in front of a sold-out crowd at Kingspan Stadium.

With the stands and terraces full, Ulster took only four minutes to give the supporters something to cheer about. After the Italians collapsed the first maul attempt, on attempt number two, Tom Stewart found a way to squirm his way down the left-hand side and reach out for the opening try. 

Another four minutes on the clock, and a second try on the scoreboard for the home team. It was a fantastic score, with both forwards and backs linking well. Loosehead Callum Reid putting Ulster on the front foot with a scintillating sidestep before fellow prop Marty Moore found James Hume with an equally impressive offload. Hume linked with Nathan Doak and Matty Rea who galloped in for the try. Doak successful with his second attempt at goal with the conversion.

The next 20 minutes may be time Dan McFarland and his fellow coaches will want to forget, as it was marred with indiscipline. At first, Stewart was caught unable to roll away, resulting in the first three points for the visitors through the boot of Geronimo Prisciantelli. Ulster continued to keep the referee busy with Luke Marshall pinged for going off his feet, Doak caught on the wrong side of the ruck, and Matty Rea finding himself offside. Referee AJ Jacobs had had enough and showed a yellow card to Sam Carter for not retreating 10 metres and making a hit off a Zebre tap penalty.

It didn’t take long for the team from Parma to capitalise on the advantage. Off the maul, Zebre moved the ball wide with full back Lorenzo Pani showing his pace to get on the outside of Jacob Stockdale before throwing a clever dummy to dart in for their opening try. It went unconverted bringing the scores back to 12 - 8.

This was perhaps the shot in the arm Ulster required, as they rolled up their sleeves and began to up the intensity. A number of strong carries from the forwards, with Tom Stewart making a half break alongside Jake Flannery forced the opposition into indiscipline of their own, 5 metres out. Ulster opted for the old-school tap penalty, keeping their composure, enabling Calum Reid to power over for Ulster’s third try. Doak pinged over the relatively straight forward conversion to extend the lead to 19-8 after 36 minutes played.

Ulster then didn’t deal well with the restart, allowing winger Simone Gesi, who had been threatening throughout the half, to claim the ball back. Zebre again were able to find width in attack, but this time Stockdale and Hume dealt with it well with a dominant tackle, forcing a knock on close to the line. Reid getting back to the bread and butter of a front row forward, winning a penalty at the scrum, allowing Ulster to exit the danger zone before half time. 

With the clock in the red, and with a penalty awarded, Ulster opted to have one more go before the break. Carter, returning from the naughty step, ensured Ulster held onto possession at the line out. From here, Ulster held onto possession, going through the phases, but always moving forward, before the ball was shifted wide to Stewart Moore who claimed the bonus point try with a silky run in the shadow of the Memorial clock. Doak converted to bring the half time score to 26-8.

HALF TIME: Ulster 26 - 8 Zebre

Two minutes into the second half, Nathan Doak was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle after the referee consulted with the Television Match Official. Stewart Moore was given the opportunity to show another level of his versatility as a make-shift scrum half in the interim. Neither team really threatened the scoreboard during this period, but Ulster will be pleased with how they managed the time, especially as they worked their way up the pitch.

With Doak returning to the field, alongside club captain Iain Henderson, making his first appearance of the season, the impact was instant. Henderson calling the line out to himself, building a strong platform for Tom Stewart to touch down off the back for his second score. The difficult conversion was missed by Doak. Ulster now leading 31-8, with 54 minutes played.

With Zebre chasing the game and Ulster comfortably ahead, the game became quite frantic with both teams showing some good skills and footwork, notably from Jeffery Toomaga-Allen not to be out done by the skills shown by his fellow props in the first half. 

On 65 minutes, and with Tom Stewart off the field, his replacement at hooker, John Andrew, picked up where he left off, as the Ulster pack set up another rolling maul for Andrew to score their sixth try of the night. Doak, disappointed to miss another wide conversion on the night. 

With eight minutes remaining, and the visitors trying to build their own attacking platform, Marcus Rea popped up to win a penalty with a trademark steal at the breakdown. This allowed Doak, now playing at fly half, to pop the ball into the corner for another Ulster line-out and drive. It appeared as though John Andrew had matched Stewart with his second try, but he was denied by the TMO and referee due to a technical infringement, as he slid to the back of the maul in possession of the ball. 

There was still time for another opportunity, and it was Zebre who claimed it. A tackle off the ball by Carter enabled the visitors to kick into Ulster territory. They were to be denied on the first couple of attempts by the physicality of the Ulster defence, notably from the two seasoned internationals, Duane Vermeulen and Iain Henderson, along with Ulster stalwart Andy Warwick.

However, the Italians did have the last laugh, as the TMO confirmed that replacement Erich Cronjé had done enough to stretch out and score on the line on the final whistle. Prisciantelli converted.

Two-try Tom Stewart was named Player of the Match as Ulster moved back into second place on the table with a six-try bonus point win.

FULL TIME SCORE: Ulster 36 - 15 Zebre

Scorers

Ulster

Tries: Tom Stewart (2), Matty Rea, Callum Reid, Stewart Moore, John Andrew

Conversions: Nathan Doak (3)

Yellow Cards: Sam Carter, Nathan Doak

Zebre

Tries: Lorenzo Pani, Erich Cronjé

Conversions: Geronimo Prisciantelli

Line-Ups

Ulster

(15-9): Stewart Moore, Ethan McIlroy, James Hume, Luke Marshall, Jacob Stockdale, Jake Flannery, Nathan Doak;

(1-8): Callum Reid, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Cormac Izuchukwu, Sam Carter, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, Duane Vermeulen (Captain).

Replacements: John Andrew, Andy Warwick, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Iain Henderson, David McCann, Michael McDonald, Angus Curtis, Ben Moxham.

Zebre

(15-9): Lorenzo Pani, Jacopo Trulla, Richard Kriel, Enrico Lucchin (Captain), Simone Gesi, Geronimo Prisciantelli, Chris Cook

(1-8) Juan Pitinari, Jacques Du Toit, Matteo Nocera, Matteo Nocera, Jan Uys, Andrea Zambonin, Guido Volpi, Giacomo Ferrari, Matt Kvesic

Replacements: Marco Manfredi, Daniele Rimpelli, Riccardo Genovese, Leonard Krumov, Iacopo Bianchi, Ratko Jelic, Joey Caputo, Erich Cronjé

Player of the Match

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Your <a href="<https://twitter.com/hashtag/BKTURC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BKTURC</a>> Player of the Match ⭐️ <a href="<https://t.co/ANS2i1EXJ3">pic.twitter.com/ANS2i1EXJ3</a></p>&mdash>; Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) <a href="<https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby/status/1596274101911703552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November> 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="<https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js>" charset="utf-8"></script>

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