By Neil Carnduff
Prolific Ulster showed visiting Benetton Treviso no quarter this evening at Ravenhill, pulverising the Italians with a seven-try tour de force to seize a vital bonus point at the half-way stage of the Heineken Cup group phase.
A Luke Marshall score in each half added to tries from Paddy Jackson, John Afoa, Dan Tuohy, Sean Doyle and Andrew Trimble, with Jackson celebrating his 50th cap in white-and-red with a further 13 points from the boot. Jared Payne and Darren Cave, while not getting their names on the scoresheet, were electric throughout the encounter and played a pivotal role in everything good that Ulster produced, while Rob Herring was a powerhouse at hooker throughout.
Ulster only just missed out on a dream start as a Luke McClean fumble in the first minute got the home backs to within a metre of the line on the right wing, before the ball slipped from their hands in its turn. Ulster came straight back again with incisive midfield play from Payne, and a handful of phases later it was Jackson who broke through the Italian rearguard, picking up a one-handed offload from Cave two metres from home to cross the whitewash under a tandem of heavy tackles.
The try went unconverted, but with the Ulster forwards entirely dominating the scrum and the backs in such quicksilver form, it was a question of when and not if Ulster would penetrate again. The answer came on 16 minutes, in no small part thanks to Tuohy, who alertly scooped up a loose ball on halfway and set another free-flowing move in motion. Payne took control as the ball moved to the right wing, writing off four men in his wake before supplying Cave, who eclipsed three opponents and fed Marshall to plough over to the right of the posts.
This time Jackson’s conversion was true, and although Treviso enjoyed short pockets of good rugby as the half advanced, they were powerless to resist the bulk of Afoa on the half-hour mark as the prop added another highlight to his Ravenhill scrapbook with a one-man demolition job through the heart of the Treviso defence. Picking up a good 10 metres from the line, the Kiwi showed the English Premiership exactly what they can expect next season as he brushed half-a-dozen tackles aside to touch down beneath the posts.
Jackson’s conversion dispatched with ease, Ulster set about trying to bag the bonus point before half time, with both Trimble and Craig Gilroy tormenting their opponents with a deadly cocktail of speed, strength and trickery. However Treviso defended stoutly, and Ulster had to settle for a further three points from Jackson’s boot as half-time was called.
Half-Time Score Ulster 22 Benetton Treviso 0
Herring broke up some decent Treviso possession as the second period opened with a smart steal on halfway, but to their credit the Italians built again and earned a scrum five metres from the Ulster line. However it came to naught as the Italians dithered at the put-in at several attempts, although Marshall was sin-binned in the next attack from the visitors for deliberately slowing down play by failing to roll away in the tackle.
Treviso opted for the five-metre scrum in front of the posts, but were unable to make their numerical superiority count, and Ulster eventually cleared their lines on 56 minutes. At this stage the hosts sparked back into life, Tuohy again instrumental as he broke into the Treviso ‘22’, exchanged a neat one-two with the ever-involved Cave, and crashed over for the bonus-point try.
The Jackson conversion capped a harsh blow for the visitors, who had enjoyed 15 minutes’ worth of possession with no points to show for it, and Ulster, still a man light, applied further salt to the wounds on 63 minutes as excellent ball movement created the gap for Doyle to dive between the posts for his first try in Ulster colours, converted once more by Jackson.
Multiple personnel changes later, Trimble withstood a heavy tackle by the corner flag to ground try number six after yet another assist from Cave and, although Jackson’s kick struck the upright, the outside-half was heavily involved in the final Ulster try, latching on to replacement David McIlwaine’s flicked pass and picking out Marshall at the right time to send in the centre for his second of the match.
The Ulster tally peaked at 48 courtesy of Jackson’s final conversion with two minutes remaining, and in form such as this Ulster must be confident for next Saturday’s return fixture in northern Italy. Another bonus-point victory would see Mark Anscombe’s side top the pool on 18 points with four games played, and give the province every chance of securing a home quarter-final next spring.
Full-Time Score Ulster 48 Benetton Treviso 0
Ulster (15 – 9) J Payne; A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar (1 – 8) T Court, R Herring, J Afoa, J Muller (c), D Tuohy, R Diack, S Doyle, R Wilson
Replacements (16 – 23) N Annett, C Black, D Fitzpatrick, N McComb, M McComish, P Marshall, M Allen, D McIlwaine
Benetton Treviso (15 – 9) L McLean; L Nitoglia, M Campagnaro, A Sgarbi, A Esposito; M Berquist, E Gori (1 – 8) A de Marchi, L Ghiraldini, L Cittadini, A Pavanello (c), C van Zyl, A Zanni, D Budd, R Barbieri
Replacements (16 – 23) F Sbaraglini, M Rizzo, I Fernandez-Rouyet, P Derbyshire, M Filippucci, C Loamanu, T Botes, J Ambrosini