Ulster 54 Zebre 7

Ulster moved in the Guinness PRO14 playoff places after putting Zebre to the sword at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday night. Dan McFarland’s side scored eight tries in the comprehensive victory which moves them above Edinburgh in the fight for post-season rugby. Hooker Rob Herring broke the deadlock on 15 minutes with the game’s opening try. Ulster kicked a penalty to touch, the forwards set up a powerful driving maul which the visitors stopped illegally earning flanker James Brown a yellow card. From the resulting penalty Ulster went to the corner again, from another power surge Herring peeled off the back of the maul to crash over but Rob Lyttle couldn’t convert. Ulster’s second try arrived five minutes later and it was a carbon copy of the first. Zebre gave away a penalty inside their own 22, Peter Nelson kicked to the corner, the line out was secured and Herring again burst off the back to barge over with Lyttle converting. The Italians got back into the game on 24 minutes. Centre Giulio Bisegni made a power run into the Ulster 22 as he attempted to get a pass out tackle to full back Francois Brummer Louie Ludik knocked it down. Referee Mike Adamson adjudged it deliberate, awarding Zebre a penalty try and issuing the South African full back a yellow card. Herring completed his hat trick on 31 minutes when he went over from a driving maul for a third time, following a penalty kicked to the corner and Lyttle converted. Lyttle wrapped up Ulster’s bonus point with a fourth try with the final play of the first half. Following a slick handling move which opened up space on the Zebre left flank Stuart McCloskey put the winger over in the corner and he had enough strength to hold off a last ditch tackle to dot down in the corner. Lyttle converted his own try from a tight angle to give Ulster a 26-7 lead at the interval. Ulster scored six minutes after the restart when the referee awarded a penalty try after Zebre stopped a driving maul illegally. Ludik crossed for Ulster’s six try on 51 minutes, coming onto a crash ball in midfield and showing the defence a clean pair of heels to slide over with Lyttle adding the difficult conversion. Replacement prop Roberto Tenga was sin-binned on 57 minutes and Ulster made their numerical advantage count immediately. They kicked to the corner, the forwards patiently worked the ball through the phases from the lineout before it was spun wide. Peter Nelson and James Hume showed great hands to put winger Baloucoume over in the corner with Lyttle slotting over the conversion. Nelson’s try on 74 minutes brought up the half century for Ulster with Lyttle adding the extras. Ulster: (15-9): L Ludik, R Baloucoune, D Cave, S McCloskey, R Lyttle, P Nelson, D Shanahan, (1-8): E O’Sullivan, R Herring, M Moore, A O’Connor, K Treadwell, C Ross, S Reidy, N Timoney Replacements: J Andrew for Herring 65 mins, A Warwick for O’Sullivan 49 mins, R Kane for Moore 49 mins, I Nagle for O’Connor 51 mins, G Jones for Timoney 51 mins, J Stewart for Shanahan 51 mins, J McPhillips for Ludik 61 mins, J Hume for McCloskey 46 mins Zebre: (15-9): F Brummer, P Balekana, G Bisegni, N de Battista, J Elliott; C Canna, J Renton (1-8): D Rimpelli, O Fabiani, E Bello, L Krumov, G Biagi, A Tauyavuca, J Brown, J Bianchi Replacements: L Luus for Fabiani 49 mins, D Fischetti for Rimpelli 49 mins, R Tenga for Bello 27 mins, M Cecilian for Brown 63 mins, A Mordacci for Biagi 62 mins, R Raffaele for Renton 69 mins, M Azzolini for Brummer 63 mins, G Venditti for De Battista 70 mins Ref: M Adamson (SRU)