Ulster in Ravenhill Romp

Ulster completed their Heineken Cup Pool 2 programme tonight with a tremendous 59-3 winover Benetton Treviso at a packed Ravenhill.Going into this game Ulster knew they had to win and score a bagfull of tries if they were to have an outside chance of making it to the quarter finals as a a best runner up and they didn’t disappoint their supporters who came out in droves to support the side. Ulster led 21-3 at half time with tries from Gary Longwell and Neil Doak and then simply blitzed the Italians in the second half.

Treviso got off to the ideal start with a Simon Mason penalty before Ulster settled to their task. That Mason strike was answered by three penalties from David Humphreys – and although it was tries Ulster required, those scores helped settle the home side before Gary Longwell crashed over for their first try. Humphreys was wide with the conversion but found the range again to add the points to Neil Doak’s try to leave Ulster 21-3 up at the break.

Minutes after the restart Tyrone Howe skipped in for the third try as Ulster began to turn up the heat.

There was simply no answer from a fairly dismal Italian side who just couldn’t handle the pace and intensity visited on them by a now rampant Ulster side. Man of the Match Neil Doak struck for his second try followed by a second for Tyrone Howe with Paddy Wallace adding both conversions. The hard work of the forwards earned them a penalty try and they rounded it off with tries from Ryan Constable and the final one from Adam Larkin on the stroke of full time.<>And so Ulster must now wait and see what happens elsewhere. Munster winning in France would help. Castres are already on 8 points and the same try count as Ulster who also need Leicester to beat Llanelli and Northampton to beat Cardiff. But for the moment the dream of quarter final qualification is still very much alive.