Ulster Cut Loose In Second Half To Run Seven Tries Past Zebre

Stand-in captain Jordi Murphy grabbed two of Ulster’s seven tries in their 49-3 defeat of bottom-placed Zebre at Kingspan Stadium.

Converted tries from John Andrew and Michael Lowry had Ulster 14-3 ahead at half-time, and the Italians suffered two big setbacks that meant they played the entire second half with 13 men.

The early permanent loss of hooker Massimo Ceciliani, combined with the 34th-minute sending-off of his replacement Marco Manfredi, had Zebre under all sorts of pressure.

Robert Baloucoune, Murphy (2), Rob Lyttle and replacement Brad Roberts all crossed the whitewash to wrap up the Ulstermen’s 14th win in 16 Guinness PRO14 games. Their only defeats came against table-topping Leinster.

Zebre enjoyed a spell of territory and possession inside the opening minutes, looking to test the Ulster defence aerially and with ball in hand, but to no avail.

Ulster’s first chance came when winger Baloucoune showed great hands in collecting a kick over the top from John Cooney. David McCann made good ground and tried to get the offload away but the ball drifted just forward.

Ulster got on the scoreboard in the 12th minute through ever-reliable hooker Andrew, who crashed over for his seventh PRO14 try of the season. Cooney fired over the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

The visitors responded swiftly, however, with a Paolo Pescetto penalty. The second quarter was a little loose as both sides had opportunities ruined by handling errors along with solid defence from the opposition.

Approaching the interval, Zebre’s reserve hooker Manfredi was dismissed by referee Andrew Brace for his elbow making contact with Cooney’s head.

The match was held up for few minutes as Brace had to consult with the Zebre coaches to check if they could field a front rower to compete in the scrum. They could not and so it went to uncontested scrums for the remainder.

Ulster soon notched their second try of the night, with the youthful back-line going through the hands to send out-half Michael Lowry in at the corner. Cooney tagged on the extras to open up an 11-point advantage.

Barely two minutes into the second period, the home side struck again as the fleet-footed Baloucoune raced through to dot down, and Cooney slotted over the conversion.

The province’s bonus point try came almost immediately after, Cooney setting the move in motion by going on the kick chase. Stewart Moore retrieved possession and Murphy, with a three-man overlap to his left, cantered in behind the posts for another seven-pointer.

Despite being down to 13 men, Zebre managed to frustrate Ulster at times, keeping them pinned inside their own half for the next ten minutes, but Ulster’s dominant pack and maul soon got their reward.

Amid a surging lineout drive, Murphy powered over on the hour mark to complete his brace. Lowry took over the kicking duties after Cooney was replaced, duly making it 35-3.

Ulster began to turn the screw, Lowry sending up an inch-perfect cross-field kick to Lyttle, who still had a lot to do but his jinking step made his score look easy. Lowry made it two-from-two from the tee.

This final round fixture finished with a flourish as Roberts bagged his first Ulster try, the Rainey Old Boys clubman showing great pace to go in under the posts and tee up a simple Lowry conversion.