Supporters returned to Kingspan Stadium for the first time since February, and the 600 in attendance were treated to an end-to-end first half that saw the teams go in tied at 21-21 at half-time.
James Hume opened the scoring on 8 minutes, collecting John Cooney's grubber kick to touch down. Stewart Moore then marked his debut with a try four minutes later, finishing off a superb team score. Cooney added the extra two points on both occasions.
Federico Ruzza bulldozed over for the visitors' first try on 23 minutes, which Paolo Garbisi converted. Michael Lowry nipped through a gap in the Benetton defence five minutes later to dive over, with Cooney converting once more. Benetton had the last say of the first half, with Abraham Steyn's try levelling it up.
Four minutes after the restart Garbisi nudged Benetton in front with a penalty, before a dominant Ulster maul saw Marcell Coetzee peel off to score the bonus point try, with Cooney converting.
David McCann and Gareth Milasinovich both entered the fray for their Ulster debuts in the second half, before fellow replacement Adam McBurney profited off the back of another strong maul to touch down with eight minutes to go. Bill Johnston slotted the conversion to round off the win for the Ulster men.
<h6>Story of the night:</h6>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">It's good to be back home ❤️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SUFTUM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SUFTUM</a> <a href="https://t.co/ryByt4Uk0F">pic.twitter.com/ryByt4Uk0F</a></p>
— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) <a href="https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby/status/1312364756133646336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<h6>Moment of the Match:</h6>
The score of the night came from the man making his first start for Ulster, Stewart Moore. Craig Gilroy superbly gathered a box kick on the Ulster 10 metre line. Play was shifted left where Jacob Stockdale made the initial break, with Cooney supporting to slip in the young centre to score.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">And they’re at it again ⚡️ ⚡️ ⚡️<a href="https://twitter.com/JacobStockdale?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JacobStockdale</a> breaks the line and some quick hands puts <a href="https://twitter.com/stewartmoore88?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stewartmoore88</a> in on his first senior start for <a href="https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UlsterRugby</a> 👏</p>
Can <a href="https://twitter.com/BenettonRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BenettonRugby</a> find a way back into the game?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GuinnessPRO14?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GuinnessPRO14</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ULSvBEN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ULSvBEN</a>
🇬🇧 Watch Live Now on <a href="https://twitter.com/PremierSportsTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PremierSportsTV</a> <a href="https://t.co/WEW7TcOd1F">pic.twitter.com/WEW7TcOd1F</a>
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) <a href="https://twitter.com/PRO14Official/status/1312115670574866432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<h6>Player of the Match:</h6>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">He carried like a demon all night - your <a href="https://twitter.com/PRO14Official?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PRO14Official</a> Man of the Match tonight is Matthew Rea! 🙌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ULSvBEN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ULSvBEN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GuinnessPRO14?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GuinnessPRO14</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SUFTUMLive?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SUFTUMLive</a> ⚪️🔴 <a href="https://t.co/DGNrcWCLdy">pic.twitter.com/DGNrcWCLdy</a></p>
— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) <a href="https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby/status/1312138082590679041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<h6>Scorers:</h6>
<strong>Ulster</strong>
Tries: J Hume, S Moore, M Lowry, M Coetzee, A McBurney; Cons: J Cooney (3), B Johnson
<strong>Benetton:</strong>
Tries: F Ruzza, P Garbisi, A Steyn; Cons: P Garbisi (3); Pen: P Garbisi
<h6>Line-Ups</h6>
<strong>Ulster:</strong>
(15-9): Jacob Stockdale, Craig Gilroy, James Hume, Stewart Moore, Rob Lyttle, Michael Lowry, John Cooney.
(1-8): Jack McGrath, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Sam Carter, Iain Henderson (Capt.), Matthew Rea, Sean Reidy, Marcell Coetzee.
Replacements (16-23): Adam McBurney, Eric O'Sullivan, Gareth Milasinovich, David O'Connor, David McCann, Alby Mathewson, Bill Johnston, Louis Ludik.
<strong>Benetton:</strong>
(15-9): Jayden Hayward, 14 Ratuva Tavuyara, 13 Ignacio Brex, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (C)
(1-8): Cherif Traore, Hame Faiva, Marco Riccioni, Marco Lazzaroni, Federico Ruzza, Sebastian Negri, Abraham Steyn, Toa Halafihi
Replacements (16-23): Gianmarco Lucchesi, Nicola Quaglio, Simone Ferrari, Niccolò Cannone, Eli Snyman, Giovanni Pettinelli, Callum Braley, Edoardo Padovani.
<h6>Player Reaction</h6>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">🗣"𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠!"</p>
URTV spoke to <a href="https://twitter.com/stewartmoore88?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stewartmoore88</a> after his superb first senior start for Ulster against Benetton this evening! 🙌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SUFTUM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SUFTUM</a> ⚪️🔴 <a href="https://t.co/esG5mQiKf9">pic.twitter.com/esG5mQiKf9</a>
— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) <a href="https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby/status/1312177644952190977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<h6>Social Media Reaction</h6>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">A breathless 80 minutes 🤯<a href="https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UlsterRugby</a> prevail with five tries to <a href="https://twitter.com/BenettonRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BenettonRugby</a>'s three in a thriller at Kingspan Stadium</p>
The Italians certainly gave the hosts a fright though in front of 600 supporters in Belfast 👏<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GuinnessPRO14?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GuinnessPRO14</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ULSvBEN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ULSvBEN</a> <a href="https://t.co/MMAimFAThR">pic.twitter.com/MMAimFAThR</a>
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) <a href="https://twitter.com/PRO14Official/status/1312138194901585920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Amazing being back cheering on <a href="https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UlsterRugby</a> tonight .. 🔴⚪️ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SUFTUM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SUFTUM</a> <a href="https://t.co/BVcZnfLoOa">pic.twitter.com/BVcZnfLoOa</a></p>
— Laura Rachael 🎀🎀 (@LauraRGallagher) <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraRGallagher/status/1312141776052867073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Congrats guys. Great start to the season.</p>
— Pete Snodden (@PeteSnodden) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSnodden/status/1312141804179869696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Privileged to be in the small socially distanced crowd for <a href="https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UlsterRugby</a>'s first game of the season this evening. A tenacious performance by the visitors <a href="https://twitter.com/BenettonRugby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BenettonRugby</a> but Ulster prevailed with 5 tries. Great to see live rugby again. <a href="https://t.co/ooDITmGnNQ">pic.twitter.com/ooDITmGnNQ</a></p>
— John Roberts (@SneedHearn) <a href="https://twitter.com/SneedHearn/status/1312166169474818049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
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