Four tries in the final 12 minutes of an explosive Ulster closing salvo blew away visiting Italians Benetton Treviso tonight at the Kingspan Stadium, with the province’s youngest-ever centurion Craig Gilroy outstanding with a brace of scores.
Also on target were Michael Allen and replacements Stuart McCloskey and Andrew Warwick, with a penalty try and 13 points from the boot of Ruan Pienaar completing the rout. The bonus-point victory moves Ulster up to joint-first in the Guinness Pro12 standings, albeit with fellow chasers Glasgow, Leinster and Munster still to play over the weekend.
The game marked two personal milestones for Ulster players, as winger Gilroy made his 100th appearance for the province, and prop Warwick grabbed his first try in Ulster colours.
Gilroy and Darren Cave, both released from the preliminary Ireland Six Nations squad, came straight into the starting line-up along with five personnel changes from the XV which had started against Leicester Tigers three weeks ago.
A rehabilitated Louis Ludik returned at full-back in the absence of Jared Payne, while Allen took over from Tommy Bowe on the wing, Luke Marshall continued at 12, with Ian Humphreys at out-half and Pienaar at scrum-half.
Among the forwards, Rob Herring lined up at hooker in place of Ulster’s other Six Nations starter Rory Best, with Callum Black and Wiehahn Herbst retained their places either side. Lewis Stevenson took over from Alan O’Connor to team up with Franco van der Merwe in the second row, while Nick Williams recovered from injury to start at Number Eight, flanked by skipper Roger Wilson and the in-form Mike McComish.
Making a welcome return to the replacements bench were Robbie Diack, also released by Joe Schmidt, and McCloskey, back in the squad after a lengthy lay-off with an elbow ligament injury.
The visitors – shorn of half a team of first-choice regulars thanks to the Six Nations – started brightly, with two searching kicks towards the right wing in the first five minutes testing the legs of the Ulster defence. Although several well-managed set pieces followed, Treviso failed to exert any real pressure on the Ulster ‘22’, and a poor kick straight to touch from out-half Joe Carlisle ceded possession on 12 minutes.
Ulster made better use of the ball after Treviso had infringed at a five-metre scrum, Pienaar slotting over a close-range penalty to open the scoring. The Italians were then extremely fortunate when Ulster just failed to get hands on their poorly-thrown lineout which dropped in no man’s land on the verge of the Treviso ‘22’, before a dynamic central break from Cave on 25 minutes set up Allen’s try, finished off with a neat sidestep from the youngster from Humphreys’ pass.
Pienaar converted and, picking up straight from the restart, Gilroy showed exactly the form which has made him Ulster’s youngest centurion at 23, outpacing five Italians in his own half before launching a high kick-and-chase over the heads of the onrushing defenders. As the ball bounced backwards into Gilroy’s path, luck shone on Dean Budd, who just managed to seize it back as the winger attempted to take control for a certain try.
Playing with much better fluency now after their slow start, Ulster battered the Treviso defence all the way until half-time, but failed to clock up any more points for their efforts – with Pienaar even missing a straightforward penalty on the whistle, as his kick rebounded off the upright and back into play.
Half-Time Score Ulster 10 Benetton Treviso 0
Treviso enjoyed a prolonged spell of possession again as the second period opened, but once more proved wasteful and, once Pienaar had pinched the ball at a 46th-minute scrum, only a severe over-throw from Gilroy as Marshall broke down the right wing denied try number two.
Ulster continued to press, however, and after two rolling mauls had failed to bear fruit, quick ball from the backs and an improvised kick on from Marshall as Italian skipper Antonio Pavanello deliberately knocked on looked to have given Stevenson his very first try in Ulster colours. However the TMO adjudged the lock to have been in an offside position and the try was ruled out – with Pavanello’s yellow card scant consolation.
With replacement lock Tomas Vallejos soon joining his captain in the sinbin for deliberate obstruction, Ulster – with Diack and McCloskey now in the fray – pulverised the Italian scrum on the hour mark, with expert dribbling from Wilson at the base eventually forcing the penalty try as Treviso desperately tried to put off the inevitable.
Pienaar added the extras and, although Carlisle opened the visitors’ account on 66 minutes with a penalty, the Ulster machine rolled on with a third try two minutes later, McCloskey marking his return with a score by the right-hand corner flag after a fine long pass from Humphreys.
The conversion dispatched, Ulster had exactly 10 minutes to secure the bonus point, but needed only two as Gilroy grounded emphatically in the corner from McComish’s pass after close calls for both the flanker and van der Merwe in the build-up.
Pienaar’s conversion drifted just wide, but it mattered little as Ulster inflicted two more tries on the Italians – the first from Warwick off fellow replacement Peter Nelson’s pass, and the second an intercept score from man-of-the-match Gilroy.
Two late conversions from the scrum-half brought the Ulster tally to 43, their highest return of the season, and a telling indicator of the province’s firepower in advance of two more must-win February Pro12 ties – away to Edinburgh on Friday 20th and at home to the Scarlets on Friday 27th.
Full-Time Score Ulster 43 Benetton Treviso 3
Ulster (15 – 9) L Ludik; C Gilroy, D Cave, L Marshall, M Allen; I Humphreys, R Pienaar (1 – 8) C Black, R Herring, W Herbst, L Stevenson, F van der Merwe, R Wilson (c), M McComish, N Williams
Replacements (16 – 23) J Andrew, A Warwick, B Ross, R Diack, C Ross, P Marshall, S McCloskey, P Nelson
Benetton Treviso (15 – 9) J Hayward; A Esposito, E Bacchin, S Christie, L Nitoglia; J Carlisle, A Lucchese (1 – 8) M Zanusso, D Giazzon, R Harden, A Pavanello (c), C van Zyl, M Swanepoel, D Budd, M Luamanu
Replacements (16 – 23) A Anae, JF Novak, S Manu, T Vallejos-Cinalli, N Cattina, A Pratichetti, J Ambrosini, H Seniloli